|
|
April 03, 2003
U.S. Army Moves Into Najaf, Hunts Fedayeen
After battling pro-Baghdad loyalists, U.S. troops moved into the center of Iraq's holy city of Najaf Thursday, bolstered by an edict from a top local Shiite Muslim leader urging people not to interfere with them. U.S. officers said they believed most of the fedayeen paramilitary fighters loyal to President Saddam Hussein had dropped their equipment and fled -- but that a few were still in the city putting up a fight. Posted By Gabriel Syme (Samizdata) at April 3, 2003 04:15 PM | TrackBackComments
CNN showed a very good report about a company? battalion? (they did not say, there wasn't a whole bunch of troops visible, but a Lt. Col was leading them) in Najaf, near the Dome of Ali. The US Troops were very careful to maintain distance and show respect, from what I saw. They were called there (apparently) by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistine, who wanted to meet with the US Commander. The US Troops finally had to withdraw as the crowd was acting on a rumor that the US was going to defile the shrine. What I saw was a group of culturally sensitive guys trying their darndest not to offend anybody and not spark an incident, despite a lot of very angry appearing people. It'll be interesting to see how this is spun on the press that caters to the "Arab Street"... FPK3 Posted by: Fred Kiesche at April 3, 2003 04:26 PMPost a comment
|