Word: najaf
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...That's not the only difference between Najaf and Fallujah. There, the U.S. forces had found themselves confronted by an insurgent force backed by the overwhelming majority of the civilian population, whereas Sadr's fighters are mostly outsiders to Najaf, whose presence has irritated the city's clerical leadership and much of the civilian population. But prospects for resolving the standoff within the Shiite community have receded, not only because the clashes that began last week saw both sides accuse the other of violating the June cease-fire that brought the previous battle in the city...
Even as President Bush and Senator John Kerry skirmish over the decisions that took America into Iraq, the challenge facing U.S. soldiers on the ground may be growing tougher. Their showdown with forces loyal to Moqtada Sadr in Najaf comes amid an escalation of violence - and U.S. casualties - following June's transfer of political authority to Iyad Allawi. The Iraqi Prime Minister's decision to launch a military campaign to break the back of the Sadrist challenge represents what could be a fateful gamble on the part of the new government, and its U.S. underwriter...
...seventh day of fighting between Marines and members of Sadr's Mehdi Army in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, in which hundreds of militiamen have reportedly been killed, Marines supported by helicopters and tanks entered the city to throw a steel cordon around the militants holed up in and around the Imam Ali Mosque, Shiism's holiest shrine. Sensitive to the danger that any damage to the shrine could provoke a nationwide Shiite uprising, the new Iraqi government insists that U.S. soldiers won't actually enter the shrine. But the intensity of the fighting clearly carries a huge political...
...easy being a democrat in Iraq. Consider the plight of Uday Abu Tbikh, an aspiring politician in his mid-30s from the holy city of Najaf. Two months ago, the interim government announced plans to hold a national conference to pick 100 members of a temporary national assembly, which would give some public input to the governing of Iraq before a parliament can be elected next year. Abu Tbikh was determined to participate and make his voice heard. "We believed it would be the solution to getting rid of the U.S. puppet government," he said. But when his local caucus...
...context in disparaging the U.S. forces' "retreat" from Fallujah and its choosing "not to pursue" Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his army. The U.S. military reacted the way it did because it was being criticized for causing civilian casualties. Also, al-Sadr was hiding in his hometown, Najaf, in one of the holiest Shi'ite mosques. I have no doubt that U.S. forces could have made Fallujah a ghost town and leveled the mosque in Najaf with al-Sadr in it, but then what would Klein have said? Rodney Schulling Chisinau, Moldova Culpability or Shame? You wrote about...