American Forces Push Deeper Into Najaf (Imam Ali mosque DAMAGED)

[Goldmund]

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - American tanks firing shells and heavy machine guns made their deepest incursion yet Friday into this stronghold of a radical cleric. Apparent gunfire slightly damaged one of Shia Islam's holiest shrines, prompting calls for revenge and even suicide attacks.

<snip>
Four holes, each approximately 12 inches long and 8 inches wide, could be seen on the golden dome of the Imam Ali mosque, burial place of Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib, the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law and the Shiites' most revered saint.

The mosque, in the middle of Najaf, is about 100 miles south of Baghdad on a high desert plateau overlooking the world's largest cemetery.

Militia members blamed the Americans for the damage to the mosque, but Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said al-Sadr's men were probably responsible: "I can just tell you by the looks of where we were firing and where Muqtada's militia was firing, I would put my money that Muqtada caused it."
</snip>



More...

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040514/D82IJ7TO0.html

[LittleApple81]

1. I don't care where Kimmit puts his money. Iraqis will not believe him.n/t

[not systems]

2. Maniacs are running the show.

We are not useful in Najaf, this policy is morally and intellectually bankrupt.

[newyorican]

3. Sounds like an excuse...

straight out of the IDF handbook of denials.

[Kagemusha]

4. Hell. Maybe it's true. Will anyone care? Uh, no.

Because what were the tanks doing in the middle of the Shiite Vatican to be shot at in the first place.

[mobuto]

14. No, I'd tend to believe the Americans

You don't think both sides recognize the propaganda value of the mosque? I think both sides believe that if Americans so much as touch the mosque, public opinion will shift over to al-Sadr and we'll have a much wider uprising on our hands. It doesn't matter if al-Sadr, Osama bin Laden and John Doe No. 2 are sitting inside, in plain view, drinking tea from a bone-china tea set; the US really doesn't want to go there.

The only people who would gain from an attack on the mosque are the Mahdi Army.

[tuckessee]

5. Sure, Gen. Kimmel.......

Those Iraqis are so devious and sneaky.

Always running around inflicting intentional casualities and damage on themselves, like the US said was the case with the Fallujah civilian deaths.

Why, I bet this whole US invasion scene is really just a bunch of Iraqis running around in surplus American cammies they bought on ebay trying to whip up international sympathy so that they'll be able to host the next World Cup Soccer Tournament.

[Zhade]

10. Yeah, because it's so easy for a kid to snipe himself from a minaret.

NT!

[benburch]

6. We fight on holy ground.

What the F**k are we thinking?

Much better to let them hold that place and attack them if they move off of it.

Now we have desecrated one of the holy sites of Islam. Imagine if an invader had damaged the Sistine Chapel?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. I think shrubco realizes that the American public is beginning now to

realize what a festering pile of maggots this war is, and figures now is as good a time as any to go for an all-out, brutal "win" if there is such a thing.

[abracadabra]

9. Can't kill the HYDRA

chop off one head and 5 grow back...

"The difference between History and Mythology is that Mythology is true"

.

.

[bpilgrim]

8. Saddam Damaged the Mosque too when putting down a popular uprising in 91

The Shia took refuge there during their uprising in 1991. Saddam Hussein's troops attacked the shrine and damaged it.

more...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3669195.stm

they were all killed

peace

[Zhade]

11. Didn't you hear? Bush is the new Saddam, once-removed.

Bremer just fills in while The Traitor golfs and reads the sports page.

[daleo]

12. I thought the latest official excuse for the war went

"U.S. Occupation: Slightly less cruel than Saddam (but working on it)"

[Just Me]

15. I've heard it recently called: "Saddam-lite".

The only rational purpose I can create for this decision to tank over holy grounds and risk damaging holy sites is that the Busholinis seek to provoke an escalation and expand this war per the PNAC plan.

[daleo]

16. What will the advertising be for Saddam-lite?

Tastes great (lovely oil)
or
Less filling (mass graves)

[dArKeR]

13. Shiite militiamen celebrate the destruction of U.S. army equipment

Shiite militiamen celebrate the destruction of U.S. army equipment in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, Friday.

http://theglobeandmail.com/

There is a pic of Iraqis with US weapons. I haven’t read any other place that the US were beaten back and retreated to leave behind weapons! But the story linked to this pic doesn't mention anything about the weapons.