WP: Forces Loyal to Sadr Begin to Withdraw from Key Cities

[DeepModem Mom]

Forces Loyal to Sadr Begin to Withdraw From Key Cities
2 U.S. Soldiers, 7 Contractors Missing After Convoy Attacked
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Sewell Chan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, April 12, 2004; 6:32 PM


BAGHDAD, April 12 -- A week after seizing control of Iraq's holiest city, members of a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr relinquished their hold on police stations and government buildings in Najaf to Iraqi authorities on Monday as hundreds of U.S. soldiers mobilized in preparation for an assault on the city.

The withdrawal of Sadr's forces, the continuation of a cease-fire in the violence-wracked city of Fallujah and the reported release of seven kidnapped Chinese civilians amounted to the most positive developments for U.S. occupation forces since a two-front war with Shiite militia and Sunni Muslim insurgents erupted a week ago.

At the same time, senior military officials said two U.S. soldiers and seven employees of an American construction company, Kellogg Brown & Root, were reported missing after an attack on a convoy near Baghdad's airport Friday, and Gen. John P. Abizaid, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, said he had formally requested thousands of additional troops to help combat a surge in insurgent attacks.

Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, also pulled out of some government installations and police stations in two other cities in central Iraq, Kufa and Karbala, according to witnesses interviewed by news services. The black-clad militiamen also have melted away in a teeming Baghdad slum where they had spent the past week skirmishing with U.S. troops....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4788-2004Apr12.html

[KissMyAsscroft]

1. They are going to fall back and regroup...

Than some other area will rise up.

Kind of like Whack-a-Mole.

[Florida_Geek]

2. Right this is a good move on their part

the US moves in TONS of equipment and they take their stuff and move it behind the US.

[54anickel]

4. You don't think it's an honest attempt to resolve the confrontation by

Sadr and the IGC? Could some of the members of the IGC that are a bit more loyal to the Iraqi people be negotiating their own deals on the side to cool things down until the June 30th handover? Just a thought. I'm gulliable that way I guess. :shrug:

snip>
The militia's withdrawal appeared to reflect an effort by Sadr to resolve a violent confrontation with the U.S. occupation authority that began with the closure of his newspaper and the arrest of his top deputy. But it was not immediately clear how the occupation authority and military commanders would respond.

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, said earlier Monday that troops had moved to "the vicinity of Najaf to ensure that we're all prepared to conduct offensive operations to eliminate the final elements of Moqtada al-Sadr influence down there." Sanchez said the troops approaching Najaf, where Sadr is believed to be hiding, had orders to kill or capture the cleric, who is wanted in connection with the murder of another Shiite leader.

But Shiite members of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council urged the occupation authority to seek a negotiated solution with Sadr, using senior Shiite clerics as interlocutors. Several Shiites on the council want legal proceedings against Sadr to be delayed until the planned handover of sovereignty on June 30, in exchange for a commitment from Sadr to dissolve his militia.

[Laughing Mirror]

3. Of the seven "missing" Halliburton "employees"

Only the identity of one was revealed: Thomas Hamill, a truck driver from Mississippi.

Which only leads us to conclude what? That the identities of the six others were not to be revealed. Why?

[markus]

8. Probably the regulars and reserves aren't too pleased

to learn about all the guys making $50,000 or $70,000 and living in decent hotel rooms doing the same jobs they are. The world has figured out what a lot of these "contractors" are and, frankly, I think they're not too pleased it's out. Face it: while our neighbors and families are fighting and dieing in Iraq for their pittance GI wages, these guys are livin' large on our tax dollars.

Hell, why would anybody enlist or re-enlist when they could do the work for mercenary wages?

[Cooley Hurd]

5. They didn't withdraw from the cities at all...

...they just turned over police stations to a police force which will undoubtedly defect to Sadr's side by Wednesday (if not sooner). If US-friendly police officers are actually in charge of Najaf, then why are "hundreds of U.S. soldiers mobilized in preparation for an assault on the city?"

BTW: who are Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Sewell Chan? I never heard of them...:shrug:

This story is bullshit, IMHO...

[Laughing Mirror]

6. yes it is bullshit, even the staid Brookings Institution admitted it today

"Absolute, total unmitigated disaster," in the words of Ivo Daalder, Foreign Policy Studies Senior Fellow at a conference they gave today, broadcast over C-Span.

Ukranians have pulled out their people. Iraqi forces have "evaporated," he said.

[Gloria]

7. I read that we should expect a "slowdown" for a period of time, then the

action is really going to ramp up. I think it was an article at Asia Times Online--within the last day or two.

"Melting away" and "evaporating" sure sounds like a period for regrouping before another outburst....

[psychopomp]

W/U.S. reinforcements, recon and targeting

all on the ready, the militia were due for total eradication. Every police station and government building would have been leveled.

"He who fights and runs away..." and all that.

[psychopomp]

9. Seems like the only wise option

It had been made clear that the goal is to kill Sadr so why would his militia expect less?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. Beep...beep...beep!! That's the sound of my BS detector going off.

[Jacobin]

11. They are probably surviving to fight another day.

I don't think they are hanging up their stirrups

[0007]

12. I also believe that!

[aneerkoinos]

13. They are not going anywere

They can spew all the propaganda they want, but who do you think the Iraqi police in Najaf in reality take orders from? CPA or Sadr and Sistani? :D ... Yes, Sadr did pull his men from the governement buildings, but that was only because of request from Sistani and other religious authorities.

More important, Sistani has given US a strongly worded ultimatum against attacking Najaf or Karbala and arresting Sadr. And guess what the "or..." part of the Sistani's ultimatum means...