CNN Breaking: Najaf truce talks fail...

[Cooley Hurd]

CNN's Matthew Chance says peace agreement has "gone awry." Iraq's National Security Advisor held press conference to say, "with great sadness, the peace effort has failed," and that US & Iraqi forces will be resuming military operations...

No link yet...

[Snoggera]

1. link

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-08-14-iraq_x.htm

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Thanks! Here's another (AP) link...

Truce Talks Collapse in Najaf

<snip>
NAJAF, Iraq - Truce talks aimed at ending more than a week of violence between Shiite militants and U.S. and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf broke down Saturday, Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie said.

"I feel deep sorrow and regret to announce the failure of the efforts we have exerted to end the crisis in Iraq," he said.

Al-Rubaie, who had headed the negotiations on behalf of the government, said he was going to leave the city.
</snip>

BTW - has anyone reported the real casualty counts from this weeks' battles in and around Najaf?

[bemildred]

10. Six US, 20 Iraqi dead, gov't side, first time I've seen any summary.

From the Shiite side I have seen numbers in the dozens.
Real counts are most likely not in existence yet.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Here's a BBC link from late last night that presages failure

From the BBC Online
Dated Saturday August 14 06:56 GMT (Friday 11:56 pm PDT)

Iraqi cleric rules out surrender

The radical Iraqi cleric who leads the Shia militants fighting US-led forces in Najaf has pledged victory or death after more than a week's fighting.
Moqtada Sadr demanded the government's resignation and withdrawal of foreign forces when he spoke to followers at the holy city's Imam Ali shrine.
A truce has been holding since American troops pushed Mr Sadr and his forces back into the area around the shrine . . . .
The BBC's Alastair Leithead notes that Mr Sadr has often sent out mixed messages and his hard words do not necessarily mean an end to negotiations or the peace which the city has been enjoying.

Read more.

[Darranar]

16. I don't think his demand for the government's resignation...

was part of his earlier truce offer, just withdrawal from Najaf and recognition of the al-Mahdi Army.

So the US could have accepted the truce without huge problems, though it still would have been a clear defeat - probably why they refused. But now they must continue fighting in a holy city, and could well provoke a large-scale Shi'ite uprising.

This is clearly a political success for Sadr, and a disaster for Bush and his puppets in Baghdad.

[Jack Rabbit]

20. I definitely agree

The Bushies could do their bloody worst (and, unfortunately, that would be in character for them) and claim a victory by force.

It will be one of those victories like the US victory in the Tet Offensive or the British victory at Bunker Hill. This was still a battle that wasn't supposed to happen and wouldn't have except for the fact that the less well-equipped forces had wide popular support.

[robcon]

4. I hope al-Sadr gets his martyrdom wish.

A lot of other people are going to be killed along with him.

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Didn't Bu$h say

that we invading Iraq in order to liberate the Shites? That Saddam had done all these things to them and was a brutal dictator that needed to be removed from power? Now we are getting ready to destroy their holiest city? What's wrong with this picture?

[mom cat]

21. Regime change here!

[madrchsod]

12. it`s their country

bush will supply a martyr for all of islam..which will mean our children and their children we be paying for bushes war on islam.

[Darranar]

15. Why?

What would it accomplish?

[0007]

27. I hope Sadr gets his wish and the US troops leave Iraq to their own

civil war. How would you feel if Nigeria tried to interfere with our civil war?

[MaineDem]

5. Sad

Olympic truce? What a peaceful concept. But no, we won't honor our signature.

[GRClarkesq]

6. What did "we" sign?

Never thought there was any agreement other than temporary cease fires while the Iraqis negotiated.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Historically all nations who particpate in the Olympics

would have a temporary cease fire during the games.

Of course, W doesn't know or care about history, despite having a degree in it.

[Ilsa]

11. I think he must have paid

another student to do his homework for him.

[Jackpine Radical]

19. I think Yale grades on an A-B-C-D-F-L system.

L is for Legacy.

[joefree1]

9. Truce talks collapse in Najaf - AP

Truce talks collapse in Najaf
By TODD PITMAN Associated Press
Last Updated 6:25 am PDT Saturday, August 14, 2004
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - Truce talks aimed at ending more than a week of violence between Shiite militants and U.S. and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf broke down Saturday, Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie said.

"I feel deep sorrow and regret to announce the failure of the efforts we have exerted to end the crisis in Iraq peacefully," he said. "Our goal was to spare blood, preserve security and for the militias to put down their weapons."

Al-Rubaie, who had headed the negotiations on behalf of the government, did not say what led to the breakdown in talks, but added that he was going to leave the city.
More ...
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/1567810p-9159300c.html



Images of the Bush Protest in Santa Monica, August 12, 2004
http://www.ediablo.com/BushProtest8-12-04.html

[goforit]

13. O oh!!!......More shock n Awe from the thugs.

Blood and Carnage.... the Christians of the new millenium!!!

[Darranar]

14. Najaf assault turns allies against US

Former US ally and president of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), Muhammad Bahr al-Ulum, has lost faith in the US-led occupation.

When the US wanted a Shia cleric to strengthen the credibility of the IGC, it turned to Bahr al-Ulum, whose family had lost many members for opposing Saddam Hussein.

But watching his hometown of Najaf come under US bombardment to crush Muqtada al-Sadr and his supporters, Bahr al-Ulum has lost faith in US intentions towards Iraq, and says millions of moderates like him, who welcomed last year's invasion, now regard Washington as an enemy.

"The Americans have turned the holy city into a ghost town. They are now seen as full of hatred against Najaf and the Shia. Nothing I know of will change this," the former president of the now defunct council said on Friday.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6A9C138C-A809-4B04-AB2D-E2FB092237F4.htm

[Darranar]

17. Briton's release ordered by rebel cleric

A freelance journalist kidnapped in the southern Iraqi city of Basra was freed yesterday after the rebel Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, demanded his release.

James Brandon, 23, who was on assignment for the Sunday Telegraph and the Scotsman, was snatched from his hotel room by more than 30 heavily armed militia who threatened to kill him if US forces did not leave the holy city of Najaf within 24 hours.

But within hours of Mr Sadr calling for his release Brandon was taken to the clerics' local offices in Basra, where he held an impromptu news conference.

He thanked the kidnappers and Mr Sadr's aides for working for his release, before being handed over to the British consulate by Brigadier Mohammed Kadhem al-Ali, the head of Basra police.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1283048,00.html

[annabanana]

18. It's the MOSQUE, stupid!

Do these thugs (ours) have ANY understanding of the importance of this place? How would we feel if they started exploding the Vatican, the Church of the Nativity, Gethemene, etc etc etc.
Whatever happened to the "neuron bombs", or whatever they were called, that would kill people and save property? (How typical that we would have developed this kind of thing)

[Fovea]

25. Ironically

We did not end up deploying a Neutron bomb.
Only those cheese eating surrender monkeys have it in their arsenal, if I remember correctly.

[Trajan]

22. WP link ....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A105-2004Aug14.html

Truce Talks Collapse in Holy City of Najaf
U.S. Commanders Warn Fighting May Resume

By Karl Vick and Saad Sarhan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, August 14, 2004; 11:31 AM

NAJAF, Iraq, Aug. 14 -- Peace talks have collapsed between representatives of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr and the interim Iraqi government, an Iraqi official announced Saturday, as U.S. military commanders warned that fighting could resume.

"The talks have failed," said Mowaffak Rubaie, national security adviser to prime minister Ayad Allawi, speaking at a brief news conference. "All efforts to end this have not succeeded."

The announcement appeared to end a truce that went into effect Friday morning, when four battalions of U.S. forces halted a complex day-old offensive at the request of the Iraqi government.

Sadr blamed the United States for the breakdown an(d) demanded an end to the U.S. military presence in Iraq. An aide charged that the interim Iraqi government had engaged in deception in the peace talks.

-snip-

[Darranar]

23. Najaf braces for siege as talks collapse

Iraq's interim government says it is resuming military operations in the holy city of Najaf after talks with the militia of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr failed.

The announcement on Saturday spells the end of a tentative ceasefire in the holy city of Najaf after more than a week of clashes that have stirred anger across the region.

"The Iraqi interim government is resuming military clearing operations to ... establish law and order in the holy city," said National Security Adviser Muwafaq al-Rubaai on Saturday.

He said the government had made every effort to find a peaceful solution to 10 days of conflict that has killed hundreds.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/44A9738D-AE01-4AEA-8202-E067EB2E13B5.htm

[skip fox]

24. I have a hard time conceiving how it could be any worse.

1.) We HAVE to stop al-Sadr or his Shi'ite followers (and now Sunni followers as well) will continue to feed the flames of the Iraqi Civil War.
2.) We CAN'T stop al-Sadr without potentially enflaming the jihadist sentiments of the entire region.
3.) If we could get the Iraqis to capture or kill al-Sadr, the Middle East might not blame the U.S. and moderate heads may prevail, at least for the short term.
4.) The Iraqi interim government is demonstrably less and less inclined to take direct action against al-Sadr.
5.) We are here.

[maxsolomon]

26. don't hurt the freaking mosque

starve them out - but don't go in or shoot at it. mop up the rest of the city, but leave sadr & friends in there for months.

6 MORE dead americans - for what? oil.