Explosions rock Najaf

[floda]

Last Update: Tuesday, April 27, 2004. 5:41am (AEST)
Explosions rock Najaf
Loud explosions in the outskirts of Najaf shook the centre of the Iraqi holy city on Monday night, witnesses said.

The blasts followed clashes between Shiite Muslim militiamen and US troops in the area.

Shiite cleric Sheikh Moqtada al-Sadr, who is leading an uprising against US-led occupation forces, is based in the town, the holiest Shiite town in Iraq.

more


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1095226.htm

[slinkerwink]

1. holy shiite.

[BlueEyedSon]

4. Hey slink, while you're punnin around....

Iraq weather report:

Sunni today,
tomorrow turning to Shiite.

:)

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. That's a good one

LOL

[0007]

14. A goody!

[ewagner]

2. Fasten your seatbelts

This is going to be rough.........

UNLESS

US field commanders have the common sense to back off. A fight in the holiest of the cities in Iraq will do no one no good....

[Maeve]

3. And so I change my sig line

Somehow I suspect we are going to have a bit of a flash-flood...

[hang a left]

5. Bremer always has a way with words. Don't cha think?

snip

"The coalition certainly will not tolerate this situation. The restoration of these holy places to calm places of worship must begin immediately," Mr Bremer said in his written statement. "

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. I think you left out the next line?

Otherwise, we will turn them back into sand.


Welcome to Armagedon folks, light salt on my popcorn please?

[Earth_First]

7. So does this mean the cease fire has been broken?

:eyes:

[skip fox]

8. Well, if Powell has been keeping his powder dry for something,

this is it! Now is the time to overrule the military mind which would forcefully intrude to squash all dissent. If we do so, the next _Black Hawk Down_ will be about us trying to leave an entire country with the natives swarming down on us.

I hope calmer heads prevail. For ourselves AND Iraq.

[Just Me]

10. This should further unify the Iraqi people,...

,...against the USA!!!

:nuke:

What "freedom? What "democracy"? What "liberation"?

:shrug:

[wryter2000]

11. Oh, God

This is going to be terrible. They'll never forgive us for attacking a holy city. What a bunch of fucking morons we have in charge.

[Dhalgren]

12. And it won't be just the Iraqi Shi'ites who will come out

against us. It will be every Shi'ite (and even the Sunnis) in the whole world. The US government (and maybe its people, too) are stupid, stupid, stupid; idiots, idiots, idiots! Damn! And double damn!

[leftchick]

16. You ain't kidding...

This is beyond fucked up! I wonder how the Shiites in Iran will take this... :scared:

[BlueEyedSon]

13. Would you ever consider that this IS the plan?

We know those guys a NUTS and LIARS....

[MnFats]

15. Oh, I have every confidence that Bush will act prudently!

Damn, I am never mixing Oxycontin and nitrous oxide again!

[maddezmom]

17. another link on Najaf -" bouquets of rocket-propelled grenades"

Witnesses said the fighting began about 8 p.m. and appeared to be isolated to a small coalition base, far from the sacred Shrine of Imam Ali at the center of the city.

~snip~

The clashes come after senior U.S. officials repeatedly and solemnly read out warnings that stockpiling weapons in mosques was creating an "explosive" situation. The Kufa mosque is widely known to double as the Mahdi Army headquarters, with fighters openly displaying far more weapons than the handful of small arms that coalition rules allow guards of public buildings.

~snip~

The initial firefight involved more than an hour of heavy rifle and machine-gun fire as well as mortars, witnesses said. Militia members fell back after U.S. attack helicopters arrived, but they appeared to be regrouping and adding reinforcements.

Outside the Kufa Grand Mosque, militiamen were scrambling into pickup trucks carrying Kalashnikovs and bouquets of rocket-propelled grenades and speeding toward an industrial area opposite the coalition base.

~snip~
more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42580-2004Apr26.html

interesting use of the word "bouquet"

[bobthedrummer]

18. Is it the equivalent of the Temple Mount, or Vatican City?

:shrug:

[slinkerwink]

19. yep, in the Islamic world, it is.

[maddezmom]

20. here's an article from 4/7/04...gives a brief history

<<Ali's shrine in Najaf is the third-largest site of Muslim pilgrimage after Mecca and Medina because Sunni Muslims also revere Ali. But Hussein's shrine in Karbala is the most sacred site to Shiites. Many Shiites rest their foreheads on small blocks of clay from Karbala when they pray.>>

[gottaB]

21. The only place of safety is within--

har har har.

I login today and it's like Chaos, Violence, Unrest. Henny Penny, the sky is falling--I've never seen anything like it. It must be the return of the 12th Imam. Surely Qiyamah is at hand. Like that's a bad thing. Look, bringing freedom to the Masjid Kufa is untidy. Apocalypse is untidy. But that's what apolacpytic people do. They make messes.

Sheesh.

[Mari333]

22. Every explosion and blunder in Iraq by this admin

is a horror to me and my husband.
I know its easy for a lot of people to change the channel.
It isnt for us.
Its a 24/7 ordeal every day.
bring the troops home
http://www.bringthemhomenow.com