18 January 2009
The Shiite radical movement of Moktada al-Sadr, which fought two wars with US troops in 2004, threatened last Wednesday to resume attacks on American targets inside Iraq over Washington's support for the Israeli assault on Gaza.
"I ask the Iraqi resistance to engage in reprisal operations against the United States, the biggest partner of the Zionist enemy", Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the central shrine city of Najaf.
He called on "all countries which host Israeli embassies on their territory to close down those missions which are the source of terrorism in Arab and Islamic countries as a sign of support for the Palestinian people."
Sadr also urged Iraqis to "place Palestinian flags on the roofs of all buildings, mosques and churches in a show of support for the mujahedeen [holy warriors] in Gaza".
Sadr's movement, which draws broad support from poorer Shiites and dominates the vast Baghdad district of Sadr City, has long been a staunch opponent of the US-led military presence in Iraq.
Its bloc in parliament campaigned strongly against last year's bilateral security deal with Washington, which paved the way for US troops to stay on Iraq until 2011 after a UN mandate expired on December 31.
Sadr had stood down his movement's long feared Mahdi Army militia in August 2007 but his aides said a smaller leaner fighting force would be retained.
Sadr's statement came on the 12th day of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.
Washington has expressed strong backing for the operation saying it was Israel's right to defend itself against rocket and mortar fire by Gaza militants. It has opposed all moves at the UN Security Council to adopt an Arab draft resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
In recent days there have been a number of anti-Israel demonstrations staged in major Iraqi centers, including Baghdad, the northern city of Mosul and the central city of Fallouja.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose government enjoys the backing of the United States, on Tuesday criticized fellow Arab states for their lack of support for the Palestinians.
Sadr during the summer of 2008 began a comprehensive reform of his Mahdi Army militia that was expected to lead to the emergence of a movement similar to the Lebanese Hezballah.
The goal at that time, he said, was to demilitarize his "army" by creating a "special" force to exclusively fight the American "occupiers", while the bulk of his militiamen would play a social role.
Founded in 2003, the Mahdi Army is still regarded as the most powerful militia in Iraq although it suffered defeats at the hands of Iraqi and US forces in operations in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra last April and May.
Maliki launched the assaults, in which more than 1,000 people died, a bid to disarm the militiamen and restore law and order in the areas under their control.
Marking Ashoura
Meanwhile, more than two million Shiite Muslims from across the Middle East thronged the shrine city of Karbala in central Iraq on January 7 for the climax of the annual Ashoura ceremonies amid tight security.
The focus of the pilgrims in the city of Karbala, 100 kilometers south of Baghdad, were two gold-domed holy shrines one to Imam Hussein and the other to his half-brother, Imam Abbas.
More than two million pilgrims from across Iraq as well as from Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan and Tanzania streamed into Karbala, said Sheikh Nameh al-Salman, a city official.
The rituals, which began 10 days earlier and reached a pinnacle last Wednesday, mark holy days for Shiites in a commemoration of the death of Imam Hussein, who was killed by the armies of the Omayyad Caliph Yazid in 680.
Tradition holds that Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and the third of 12 imams in Shiite Islam, was killed by Yazid's armies in Karbala for refusing to pay homage to the caliph.
Second only in importance to the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia for Shiites, observance of Ashoura has drawn millions since the fall of Saddam Hussein in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion.
Observance of Ashoura was banned under Saddam's Sunnite regime.
But the crowds pose a serious security challenge and in the past the ceremonies have been easy targets for Sunnite militants, prompting officials this year to mobilize 30,000 extra police.
Coordinated suicide bombings in Baghdad and Karbala during the first post-Saddam Ashoura in 2004 killed more than 160 people and marked the beginning of a bloody sectarian conflict that swept the country until early 2008.
Five Blackwater guards plead not guilty to manslaughter
In a separate development, five former guards from US security firm Blackwater Worldwide, a State Department contractor in Iraq, last week pleaded not guilty to killing 14 Iraqi civilians and wounding 18 others by gunfire and grenades at a busy Baghdad intersection in 2007.
US federal judge Ricardo Urbina set a trial date for January 29, 2010 for the defendants, aged 24-29. Relations between Washington and Baghdad soured after the high-profile shooting, which also caused an outrage over a perceived lack of oversight of security contractors in war zones.
The defendants were arraigned in federal court on 14 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one weapons violation count.
A sixth guard had pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter for the September 16, 2007 shooting in Nisur Square.
The defendants, who were part of a Blackwater detail guarding a convoy of trucks, opened fire with automatic weapons on unarmed civilians in Baghdad.
US prosecutors said 14 civilians were killed. An Iraqi investigation found that 17 civilians were killed.
The defendants military veterans Evan Liberty, Donald Ball, Dustin Heard, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough risk sentences of 30 years to life imprisonment.
Critics have repeatedly accused Blackwater of having a cowboy mentality and a shoot first ask questions-later approach when carrying out security duties in Iraq.
After the incident, the Iraqi government pressed the State Department to withdraw Blackwater from the country, but the security firm's contract was renewed in 2008.
A State Department review panel concluded in 2007 that insufficient oversight of the more than 2,500 private security firms it employs in Iraq to protect diplomats and guard facilities had "undermined confidence" in those contractors, both among Iraqis and US military commanders.
Iraqi authorities have indicated they may seek to bring the Blackwater guards to trial in Iraq.
Under a recently concluded Status of Forces Agreement with the United States, Iraq obtained a key concession to lift immunity to Iraqi law previously enjoyed by American security contractors.
The Shiite radical movement of Moktada al-Sadr, which fought two wars with US troops in 2004, threatened last Wednesday to resume attacks on American targets inside Iraq over Washington's support for the Israeli assault on Gaza.
"I ask the Iraqi resistance to engage in reprisal operations against the United States, the biggest partner of the Zionist enemy", Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the central shrine city of Najaf.
He called on "all countries which host Israeli embassies on their territory to close down those missions which are the source of terrorism in Arab and Islamic countries as a sign of support for the Palestinian people."
Sadr also urged Iraqis to "place Palestinian flags on the roofs of all buildings, mosques and churches in a show of support for the mujahedeen [holy warriors] in Gaza".
Sadr's movement, which draws broad support from poorer Shiites and dominates the vast Baghdad district of Sadr City, has long been a staunch opponent of the US-led military presence in Iraq.
Its bloc in parliament campaigned strongly against last year's bilateral security deal with Washington, which paved the way for US troops to stay on Iraq until 2011 after a UN mandate expired on December 31.
Sadr had stood down his movement's long feared Mahdi Army militia in August 2007 but his aides said a smaller leaner fighting force would be retained.
Sadr's statement came on the 12th day of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.
Washington has expressed strong backing for the operation saying it was Israel's right to defend itself against rocket and mortar fire by Gaza militants. It has opposed all moves at the UN Security Council to adopt an Arab draft resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
In recent days there have been a number of anti-Israel demonstrations staged in major Iraqi centers, including Baghdad, the northern city of Mosul and the central city of Fallouja.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose government enjoys the backing of the United States, on Tuesday criticized fellow Arab states for their lack of support for the Palestinians.
Sadr during the summer of 2008 began a comprehensive reform of his Mahdi Army militia that was expected to lead to the emergence of a movement similar to the Lebanese Hezballah.
The goal at that time, he said, was to demilitarize his "army" by creating a "special" force to exclusively fight the American "occupiers", while the bulk of his militiamen would play a social role.
Founded in 2003, the Mahdi Army is still regarded as the most powerful militia in Iraq although it suffered defeats at the hands of Iraqi and US forces in operations in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra last April and May.
Maliki launched the assaults, in which more than 1,000 people died, a bid to disarm the militiamen and restore law and order in the areas under their control.
Marking Ashoura
Meanwhile, more than two million Shiite Muslims from across the Middle East thronged the shrine city of Karbala in central Iraq on January 7 for the climax of the annual Ashoura ceremonies amid tight security.
The focus of the pilgrims in the city of Karbala, 100 kilometers south of Baghdad, were two gold-domed holy shrines one to Imam Hussein and the other to his half-brother, Imam Abbas.
More than two million pilgrims from across Iraq as well as from Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan and Tanzania streamed into Karbala, said Sheikh Nameh al-Salman, a city official.
The rituals, which began 10 days earlier and reached a pinnacle last Wednesday, mark holy days for Shiites in a commemoration of the death of Imam Hussein, who was killed by the armies of the Omayyad Caliph Yazid in 680.
Tradition holds that Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and the third of 12 imams in Shiite Islam, was killed by Yazid's armies in Karbala for refusing to pay homage to the caliph.
Second only in importance to the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia for Shiites, observance of Ashoura has drawn millions since the fall of Saddam Hussein in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion.
Observance of Ashoura was banned under Saddam's Sunnite regime.
But the crowds pose a serious security challenge and in the past the ceremonies have been easy targets for Sunnite militants, prompting officials this year to mobilize 30,000 extra police.
Coordinated suicide bombings in Baghdad and Karbala during the first post-Saddam Ashoura in 2004 killed more than 160 people and marked the beginning of a bloody sectarian conflict that swept the country until early 2008.
Five Blackwater guards plead not guilty to manslaughter
In a separate development, five former guards from US security firm Blackwater Worldwide, a State Department contractor in Iraq, last week pleaded not guilty to killing 14 Iraqi civilians and wounding 18 others by gunfire and grenades at a busy Baghdad intersection in 2007.
US federal judge Ricardo Urbina set a trial date for January 29, 2010 for the defendants, aged 24-29. Relations between Washington and Baghdad soured after the high-profile shooting, which also caused an outrage over a perceived lack of oversight of security contractors in war zones.
The defendants were arraigned in federal court on 14 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one weapons violation count.
A sixth guard had pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter for the September 16, 2007 shooting in Nisur Square.
The defendants, who were part of a Blackwater detail guarding a convoy of trucks, opened fire with automatic weapons on unarmed civilians in Baghdad.
US prosecutors said 14 civilians were killed. An Iraqi investigation found that 17 civilians were killed.
The defendants military veterans Evan Liberty, Donald Ball, Dustin Heard, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough risk sentences of 30 years to life imprisonment.
Critics have repeatedly accused Blackwater of having a cowboy mentality and a shoot first ask questions-later approach when carrying out security duties in Iraq.
After the incident, the Iraqi government pressed the State Department to withdraw Blackwater from the country, but the security firm's contract was renewed in 2008.
A State Department review panel concluded in 2007 that insufficient oversight of the more than 2,500 private security firms it employs in Iraq to protect diplomats and guard facilities had "undermined confidence" in those contractors, both among Iraqis and US military commanders.
Iraqi authorities have indicated they may seek to bring the Blackwater guards to trial in Iraq.
Under a recently concluded Status of Forces Agreement with the United States, Iraq obtained a key concession to lift immunity to Iraqi law previously enjoyed by American security contractors.
© Monday Morning 2009
