[Marxism] US presses anti-Sadr offensive; fighting spreads across Iraq

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(This is an email stripper version, without stairstepping]

Following are three news articles that may aid getting a grip on the
struggle gripping Iraq.

I think our attention needs to make a sharp shift from the elections --
not one of the central moving forces in world politics today to the
struggle between the US military and the Iraqis who are struggling to
defend and reconquer their independence and sovereignty.  In addition, I
think any antiwar protests, however small, are better than none at
present. It also means organizing on the ground to make the August 29
demonstration a genuine antiwar demonstration against Bush with the
broadest united front character possible.

I think Gary Maclennan may well be right when he posted: "The struggle
then is to spread Allawi's writ beyond the Pale of the Green Zone. What
I am suggesting is that there has been a change or shift in USA policy.
The upcoming presidential election tends possibly to obscure that same
shift...."

That is, the US has launched a surprise offensive to smash the militant
wing of the Shiite community and kill its leaders -- hence the crowing
about massive slaughter, even if exaggerated -- and to go on to break
the Sunni resistance in Fallujah.  The fact that Sistani left the
country now has a political meaning, even though I am sure the medical
requirements are not imaginary.  He will be better able to resist
pressures to take sides or call the Shia people to action from that
distance.

For the Bush administration, this gamble -- if it succeeds -- would
register a US military victory over the resistance and stabilize and
extend the Allawi puppet dictatorship.  Virtually all the fighting is
being done by US troops.  The Iraqi forces are essentially non-existent.


Electorally, this would trump Kerry's election campaign aimed at
presenting himself to the ruling class as one who, unlike Bush, can
handle these problems.  Bush could present them with a big US victory
and a more stabilized Iraq -- however temporarily -- the US would have a
freer hand to carry out the initial objectives of the occupation
(takeover of oil, bringing down the Syrian regime, pressure on Iran,
strengthening Israel, maintaining a unitary US-run Iraq, and crushing
the Palestinian struggle).    Thus the "October Surprise" may be a
prolonged campaign that is starting now.

Whether the US imperialists have the strength to conquer or the Iraqi
insurgents to hold them off or set them back will be decided in
struggle, not by predictions.

These articles were distributed by Professor Mark Jensen of United for
Peace of Pierce County (Seattle, Washington). Fred Feldman




SADR MILITIA SURRENDER IN NAJAF:  IRAQI POLICE

Agence France-Presse August 6, 2004 - 6:49 a.m. AEST [Aug. 5, 8:49
p.m.GMT]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/s1171087.htm

More than 1,200 militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada
al-Sadr have surrendered following fierce clashes with US and Iraqi
forces in Najaf, the police general directorate said.

"Over 1,200 criminals have surrendered to Iraqi forces," it said in a
statement, adding that the holy city of Najaf had been "secured."

It said most of the captured militiamen were criminals who were released
from Iraqi prisons by ousted president Saddam Hussein before last year's
US-led invasion.

The statement accused Sadr's Mehdi Army of wanting to "destabilise the
country," and vowed "this operation will continue until this illegal and
cruel violence has been quelled".

No one in Sadr's Najaf office was immediately available for comment on
the statement.

The US military said on Friday that 300 militiamen were killed in Najaf
since Thursday's fighting, while the province's coalition-appointed
governor Adnan al-Zorfi said the number was as high as 400.

The military said also three US soldiers were killed and 12 wounded.

Sadr's spokesman Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani said only nine militiamen were


killed in fighting and 20 wounded.

Battles have raged in several Iraqi cities in the past two days between
fighters from Sadr's Mehdi army and foreign forces.

The fighting appears to have shattered a two-month-old cease-fire
between US forces and the Mehdi militia.

Clashes between British troops and fighters loyal to the radical cleric
also broke out on Friday evening in the southern city of Basra, a
Reuters witness said.

He said residents took shelter as British troops fought with members of
the Mehdi militia in the center of the city.

Automatic weapons fire echoed from the area, along with the sound of
mortars or rockets, he said.

A British military spokeswoman said the clash occurred when a British
foot patrol came under attack near Sadr's Basra office. She said it was
unclear if there were any casualties, adding the patrol later withdrew
from the area.





IRAQ SET TO USE MARTIAL LAW IN TERROR FIGHT By Donald MacIntyre

Independent (UK) August 6, 2004

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=548354

BAGHDAD -- The interim Iraqi government last night looked increasingly
prepared to impose martial law on sections of the country as coalition
and Iraqi forces fought fierce battles with armed insurgents loyal to
the radical Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr.

There were strong hints that Iyad Allawi, the interim Prime Minister,
could for the first time apply his emergency powers when he announces
plans for tackling the spreading insurgency tomorrow.

An American UH-1 helicopter crash-landed after being hit in the holy
Shia city of Najaf during fighting that Falah al-Nakib, Iraq's Interior
Minister, said yesterday had claimed the lives of eight insurgents.
Iraqi medics said seven civilians were killed.

Mr Nakib told a swiftly convened news conference yesterday that he and
Mr Allawi had taken "the necessary decisions to confront these
challenges" and charged that the fresh uprising in Najaf and Wednesday's
fighting in Mosul, in the north, were part of an "organised plan to
dismember Iraq and kill the Iraqi people... All of these terrorists and
killers are working for the same organisation regardless of which
banners they carry or which hats they wear".

The hints followed a declaration in yesterday's Iraqi media by Sheikh
Ghazi al-Yawar, the interim President, that "it is the time to use the
new national safety law" to protect the country against insurgents.  The
battles in Najaf, the worst since a conditional truce two months ago,
ended several weeks of fighting between Sadr and US forces, and
triggered further violence when

gunmen took control of parts of the Shia Baghdad suburb of Sadr City and


wounded seven US soldiers.

In the south of the country, British soldiers were said by a spokesman
for Sadr's forces to have killed one insurgent and injured three after
they ambushed an Army patrol.

In Amarah, in the British military zone, insurgents fired at government
buildings after Mehdi Army leaders appealed through mosque loudspeakers
for its members to mobilize.

Mr Nakib and a senior US officer were adamant yesterday that the
fighting in Najaf had started because Mehdi Army insurgents had attacked
a police station in the city with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and
gunfire.  The US

military source said that Iraqi forces had called in US forces after
repelling two attacks by the insurgents.

While Mr Nakib said Iraqi forces were ready to arrest "all criminals
including him [Sadr]," the senior US officer here said its forces had
not been pursuing the detention of Sadr, wanted in connection with the
killing of a rival Shia cleric.  The US military has denied that it
deliberately surrounded Sadr's house during engagements on Tuesday.

Striking a bellicose note, Mr Nakib said the Iraqi police and supporting


forces had gained "glorious victories" in the continuing fighting, and
blamed Iraq's neighbours for fuelling the insurgency.  He said Lebanese
and Iranians were among those captured.  He also criticized Arab
television networks for their coverage of the insurgency.  Mr Nakib said
the transmission of hostage-takers' videos depicted Iraqis to the world
as "savages."

There have been hints from Mr Allawi's allies that censorship could be
imposed and even threats to close down al-Jazeera's Baghdad bureau
unless its coverage is changed.  Later, a spokesman for Mr Sadr said the
cleric wanted to restore his truce.

* The Ministry of Defence said last night that a British soldier died in
Iraq. Pte Christopher Gordon Rayment, 22, who was serving with the 1st
Battalion, The Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, died yesterday in "a
tragic accident" at Amarah.

5.

FIERCE CLASHES RAGE THROUGHOUT IRAQ

Aljazeerah.net August 6, 2004 - 0:56 GMT

** From Hilla to Balad, Falluja to Najaf, Iraq was rocked by intense
clashes as Muqtada al-Sadr's forces vowed resistance against the US and
British occupation of the country. **

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E5CCC59E-3B3A-4363-A1B6-8EAD5C086

247.htm Fighting raged unabated in and around Najaf on Thursday and
early Friday

between Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and US troops who were
called in to support Iraqi national guardsmen.

By late evening on Thursday, several buildings were on fire in the holy
city, reported Aljazeera's correspondent Uday al-Katib.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, Aljazeera reported that several loud blasts caused
by exploding mortar rounds were heard in the city center.

Reuters correspondents said they heard three explosions followed by
automatic gunfire near the Sheraton and Palestine hotels.

Plumes of smoke were seen rising from the hotels, which house many
journalists and foreign contractors, Reuters reported.

NAJAF FLARE-UP

According to Aljazeera's correspondent in Najaf, the clashes started
when the Najaf General Hospital was hit by several mortar rounds killing
one and wounding four others.

The health ministry said the casualties were all hospital staff.

Mahdi Army militia then moved the fight to the vicinity of the city's
cemetery where a US marine helicopter was shot down by small arms fire.

A US Army spokesman said several members of the helicopter crew were
wounded but had been evacuated.  The helicopter had been transporting a
wounded soldier when it came under small arms fire, the spokesman added.


By nightfall, Aljazeera reported that at least 15 Iraqis had been killed
and more than 102 wounded in the ongoing clashes.

US forces said one soldier was killed and five others wounded when their


convoy came under attack on the outskirts of Najaf cemetery.

NO NEGOTIATION

Interim Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naquib told reporters that his
government would not negotiate with al-Sadr and would persist in
fighting and killing members of his militia.  Al-Naquib also blamed Arab
press for inciting violence in the occupied country.

Nevertheless, fighting spread southward to Basra as Shaikh Saad
al-Basri, an al-Sadr representative in the city, said three of their
militiamen were killed in clashes with British forces in the city.

"The clashes erupted near Garma Bridge north of the city and Sadr's
supporters damaged three British military vehicles", he added.

However, a spokesperson for British forces denied they had suffered
casualties or losses and said only two of Sadr's militiamen were killed.


IRAQ-WIDE VIOLENCE

Elsewhere in Iraq's south, five people were killed and 20 others wounded
when a car bomb detonated on Thursday morning at a police station in the
town of al-Mahawil, 70 kilometers south of Baghdad.

In the capital itself, at least one man was killed and a car destroyed
when a mortar round landed on the road linking the al-Adhamiya and
al-Mansour neighbourhoods in the western part of the city.

Meanwhile, in the northern town of Balad, Aljazeera's correspondent
reported that three Iraqi national guardsmen were wounded when their
convoy came under light weapons attack by unidentified armed assailants.


The attack set three of the convoy's vehicles ablaze.

"A US military convoy hit an explosive device that burnt a US military
vehicle north of Ishaqi.  No information about casualties among US
forces were reported," he added.

In Falluja, west of Baghdad, Aljazeera reported that four Iraqis were
killed and another five wounded in the Karma district after being shot
at by US

occupation troops who had been hit by an improvised explosive device.

There was no word on US casualties in Falluja.

MAHDI ARMY ISSUES WARNING

In an interview with Aljazeera late on Thursday, Shaikh Aws al-Khafaji,
one of al-Sadr's senior aides, said the Mahdi Army will resort to
military operations if the siege of Najaf by US forces is not
immediately lifted.

He also claimed that the Mahdi Army militia were currently deployed in
the southern city of Nasiriya to "prevent the Italian forces from
entering the city".

Al-Khafaji denied carrying out any military operations against Iraqi
police and added that the two had previously agreed on conducting joint
patrols to defend Najaf's holy sites and maintain security in the city.

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