US pressure on cleric pushes militants south - CSM

[TacticalPeek]

from the May 10, 2004 edition

US pressure on cleric pushes militants south
From Basra to Amarah, violence has increased between coalition and the radical Shiite's forces.
By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BAGHDAD â?? Even as US-led forces in Iraq made progress against loyalists of militant Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr over the weekend, the insurgency spread from the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala to British-controlled cities of Basra and Amarah in the south.

Analysts say the escalation is evidence that coalition military efforts are squeezing Sadr's Mahdi army, forcing them to fight elsewhere. But at the same time, Sadr - whom the US has vowed to "capture or kill" - is capitalizing on the horror over the Iraq prison scandal to broaden his appeal.

"The wild card is the reports of torture and humiliation," says Amatzia Baram, an Iraq expert at the US Institute of Peace in Washington. "Until that came out, was definitely on the decline. Now he is championing the case of the prisoners.

more
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0510/p01s03-woiq.html

[htuttle]

1. The whole premise of this article is silly...

HOW, when you're talking about an indigenous guerilla war, does the phrase 'forcing them to fight elsewhere' indicate any sort of 'progress' whatsoever?

Perhaps a better summary of these same events would be 'new fighting flares in Basra and Amarah'.

edit: speling