Gunmen rule in a city gripped with fright

[G_j]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4902949-103550,00.html

Gunmen rule in a city gripped with fright

Rory McCarthy reports from Najaf on an atmosphere, shaped by tension, fear and divided loyalties Najaf

Rory McCarthy
Friday April 16, 2004
The Guardian

Khalid Ali sat quietly looking towards the sun-baked golden dome rising from the shrine of the Imam Ali, almost refusing to notice the crowd of chanting gunmen who danced through the street before him.

They were a shambolic bunch of excitable young men, though all were heavily armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers, machine guns, and hand-grenades dangling from breast pockets.

They swear allegiance to the Jaish al-Mahdi, the militia of Iraq's radical young Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose uprisings across southern Iraq last week shook the American authorities in Baghdad to the core.

It is a force the American military has vowed to destroy. Now these gunmen talk of jihad and boast how they would delight in giving a lesson in the bloody art of guerrilla warfare to the troops of the US Army's 1st Armoured Division, currently massing unseen just a few miles away.

..more..

[burrowowl]

1. Gunmen

Wyatt Earp or Ali Earp?
Or Siver Shirt Gary Cooper, in High Noon?
"Do not forsake me oh my darling, ...."

[izzie]

2. Interesting what we will do since we are so like Israel forces.

We know how well that has worked and on top of this being a very holy city it should make all the people in that part of the world very calm? The ones that will be happy is Israel and the Christian Right in this country but in the Middle East I would say that is the wrong group to aim for. Did anyone see one of the news clips of the Am. in uniform when they took the aide to the Young religious man, at the hotel? I only saw that clip once with the Am really blowing his top. I do not think that all the Am in uniform are under control. But most of it is kept off the TV, and they are really shooting up the place, and blogs are better telling the story.I would say if we take this city Bush was right, he does bring people together.

[Frangible]

3. Guerilla warfare vs. humvees with no armor

Let's hear it for stupid executive decisions!