Calm before the storm in Baghdad

[JoFerret]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1194284,00.html

Iraqi capital braces itself for mujahideen onslaught

Jason Burke in Baghdad
Sunday April 18, 2004
The Observer

The threat is clear. 'Do not go out of your homes. Keep your families off the streets,' the leaflet says. 'The Combined Mujahideen Brigades are coming to Baghdad.'
This weekend, the capital of Iraq was waiting. The violence engulfing the country has ebbed - a little. But no one knows if this is just a pause before even worse unrest
....

The ability of the insurgents to cause serious casualties is not in doubt....

A 100-mile drive south from Baghdad to Najaf last week revealed many of the coalition's problems. At one point, piles of scorched and twisted metal on the roadside marked where an American convoy was destroyed 10 days earlier. Officers from the new Iraqi police force sat disconsolately at makeshift checkpoints or cowered behind concrete blast walls. A single American patrol inched along a lane closed to other traffic, soldiers crouched in their armoured vehicles, their weapons trained on the traffic, on the countryside, on houses.

In Najaf, the young men manning the defences were jumpy....

The main mosque in Najaf, the Shias' holiest shrine, was surrounded by armed men. Sadr's office is nearby. Raad al-Khadamy, a senior cleric loyal to Sadr, said an attack would 'open the gates of Hell'....

Though only a minority of Iraqi Shias support al-Sadr, the few thousand men of the rag-tag al-Mahdi army are fanatical. Amad Abbas, one of five brothers in the militia, said he joined 'to defend religious leaders, the sacred places, the Iraqi people against the Americans and Israel'.
....

.... their battle is popular with many.

.... 'They have come to our country to destroy Islam. It is my duty to fight them,' he said.

<more>

[tlcandie]

1. From the article .. I guess this about sums it up ....

<snip>
Abbas, 24, listed the standard complaints against the Americans, which are now common among Iraqis of every background, creed and political persuasion. 'We were happy when they got rid of Saddam,' he said. 'They promised democracy, prosperity and freedom. But they lied.'
<snip>

[Mari333]

2. BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW n/t

[JoFerret]

19. bring them home

[riverwalker]

3. did Gen. Kimmett faint today?

I had to work today but caught the tv long enough to see Brig. Gen. Kimmett ("if you don't like dead bodies, turn the channel") pass out at the podium. Looked like he had a stroke or something.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Here he is going down for the count

[bemildred]

6. Thanks, I saved that, it's priceless. nt

[Judi Lynn]

10. Now THAT'S a first!

Don't know how you did it, but it's a first rate grab!

I didn't see him when it happened, but saw him a few minutes later, and he had a very spaced-out, "dinged" empty grin on his face.

[mike_c]

11. has anyone reported WTF happened?

Meds kick in? Mini-stroke? Sudden BP loss? ???

[NNN0LHI]

15. 24 hour flu bug. If there is such a thing as a 24 hour flu bug? n/t

[mike_c]

16. that causes sudden loss of consciousness?!

Damn, that's some "24 hour bug!"

[daa]

17. Shrub has had it for 3 years now nt

[mike_c]

22. LOL....

Many more than three, I suspect.

[tedzbear]

18. Yes. It's called booze hangover.

The guy drank too much. A woman aid was heard saying they should get him off right now because he was an embarrassment. Flu embarrassing? I don't think so. The guy was loaded.

:kick:

[Judi Lynn]

20. Now THAT would make sense! Flu would not.

Just the kind of guy you'd want making life or death decisions, eh?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. Nah...he was just resting...

LOL!!

[NNN0LHI]

5. At the press conference today one of the reporters asked if the roads...

...leading into Baghdad were closed to prevent the Iraqis from coming there to evict the occupying force. The answer was no, but now I am not so sure.

Don

[jmcgowanjm]

12. Kimmitt says Baghdad is not cut off

adding there are many ways to get in and out of the city.

Baghdad, Iraq-AP -- The U-S military has closed down two highways north and south of Baghdad

http://www.kctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1792979

[janx]

14. There were some reports of Iraqis blowing up highways

and rendering them impassible, or at least difficult.

[hedda_foil]

23. The rebels blew up the bridges.

There's a mainstream source in LBN ... Reuters, I believe. It's been reported in the ME and European media for most of the day.

[FlemingsGhost]

7. Occupation forces will pay dearly for Fallujah...

and now, Rantissi.

[opihimoimoi]

8. We can start to clean up our act by rounding up all those bible thimpers

in Iraq.

Yes, this won't happen cause the real Pub Masters and POWER is them Fundies in the first Place.

[JoFerret]

9. Bloodbath looms as talks with Sadr fail

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_18-4-2004_pg7_1

[jmcgowanjm]

13. Yes

The Iranian mediation attempt was abandoned altogether, presumably both because of the assassination of the Iranian cultural attache and because of the opposition of Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei.

http://www.juancole.com/