[Marxism] Fierce Fighting Spreads to 6 Iraqi Cities

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Of course there's no way to predict the
outcome of the battle at this point, but
it seems the resistance fighters don't
have much beyond hand-carried weapons.)
=========================================

Fierce Fighting Spreads to 6 Iraqi Cities
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: April 7, 2004

AGHDAD, Iraq, April 6 - American forces in Iraq came under
fierce attack on Tuesday, with as many as 12 marines killed
in Ramadi, near Baghdad, and with Shiite militiamen loyal
to a rebel cleric stepping up a three-day-old assault in
the southern city of Najaf, American officials said.

In Falluja, where last week American security contractors
were killed and their bodies mutilated, American warplanes
fired rockets at houses, and marines drove armored columns
into the heart of the city, where they fought block by
block to flush out insurgents. Several arrests were made.

It was one of the most violent days in Iraq since the fall
of Saddam Hussein, with half a dozen cities ignited. One of
the biggest questions at day's end was the role of most of
the majority Shiites previously thought to be relatively
sympathetic to American goals.
-------------------------------
The string of successes seems to inflate Mr. Sadr's
popularity and draw more recruits to his Mahdi Army
militia. In some cities, like Kufa, his followers have
completely replaced police and security forces, essentially
establishing an occupation-free zone and patrolling towns
in blue and white government cars that just days ago were
driven by the new Iraqi security forces.
-------------------------------
Part of the reason for the anger is that American
commanders have announced they will arrest Mr. Sadr, in
connection with the knifing of a rival cleric, Ayatollah
Sayyed Abdul Majid al-Khoei. Mr. Sadr, 31, has denied that
he had anything to do with the killing. Americans
commanders are now saying they would rather wait to capture
Mr. Sadr than provoke more uprisings.

The trouble began a little more than a week ago, when the
American authorities shut down Mr. Sadr's newspaper, Al
Hawza, after they accused it of printing lies that incited
violence.

That started a cycle of protests that grew larger and more
unruly until they culminated in all-out street battles on
Sunday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/07/international/middleeast/07IRAQ.html?hp



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