Under siege in Baghdad's Mahdi army stronghold

[TomClash]

Source: Guardian

The gunfire built to a steady rhythm. American soldiers in a Stryker armoured vehicle fired from one end of the block. At the other end, two groups of Shia militiamen pounded back with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. US helicopters circled above in the blue afternoon sky.

As a barrage erupted outside his parents' house, Abu Mustafa al-Thahabi, adviser to the Mahdi army of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, rushed through the gate to take shelter. He had just spoken with a fighter by mobile phone. 'I told him not to use that weapon. It's not effective,' he said, talking of the rocket-propelled grenade. 'I told him to use the IED, the Iranian one,' he added, referring to an improvised explosive device. 'This is more effective.'

After nearly a year of relative calm, US troops and Shia militia engaged in pitched battles last week, underscoring how quickly order can give way to chaos in Iraq. On this block in Sadr City, the cleric's sprawling stronghold, armed men and boys came out from nearly every house to fight. From Thursday afternoon to Friday morning, this correspondent spent 19 hours here, at times trapped by intense crossfire inside the house of Thahabi's parents. Fighters engaged US forces for seven hours. They lost a comrade. They launched rockets into the Green Zone. Around the same time, rockets killed a US government employee, the second American killed there last week.

Between battles, fighters spoke about politics and war. There was no sign of grief or fear. Death was a short cut to some divine place. As the two sides exchanged fire, Thahabi's mother, Um Falah, clutched a Koran and began to pray to Imam Ali, Shia Islam's most revered saint. Her eldest son, Abu Hassan, is a Mahdi army commander.

Earlier that morning, Sadr City had been eerily quiet. Cars moved slowly. Residents ferried food and water, preparing for the worst. Rubbish littered the charred streets. On one road, two green Stryker vehicles were parked.

Outside Um Falah's house, Mahdi fighters gathered, standing against the walls, peering down the street. Clashes were unfolding on an adjacent road. One group joined the fighting, but the others remained in place. Their job was to protect their end of the block. Um Falah continued her chores: 'I have got used to war, to all the battles in our lives.' It was not the first time her son had gone to fight US troops and in her heart, she said, she knew it would not be the last. 'I have sent my son on the right path,' she said.




Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/30/iraq2

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An eyewitness report of actual fighting - unlike the bullshit spin from the US MSM.

[Altean Wanderer]

1. Moving and intense

The reduction in violence due to the 'success of the surge' is coming to an end.

[Mika]

2. Interesting to see the Iranian IED meme inserted into this story.

:puke:

[formercia]

3. Based on a US design we gave to the Insurgents figting the Soviets

in Afghanistan in the early 80's. I know from first-hand experience.

Yes, they are effective.

[Mika]

4. And effective anti Iran propaganda. n/t

[formercia]

5. I know who the players were

and would be glad to share my information with any properly cleared investigator.

This bullshit needs to be debunked.


The US has only itself to blame.

[bemildred]

6. Heck, I'll bet they've even made some improvements. nt

[formercia]

7. Not too many tweaks left

Explosively formed projectiles are a mature technology and very effective models can be built in a blacksmith shop or garage. This is not rocket science.
There are currently no armored vehicles that I know of that can withstand an attack from a properly designed and deployed EFP.
Using armored vehicles in the confines of city streets, with little room for maneuver and plenty of locations to conceal a device is a strategy of suicide.

[Mika]

8. Someone posted pages from a 60's US Special Forces manual on making IEFPs on DU a while back.

Was that you?

[formercia]

10. Not me

but the information is out there and unclassified.

I prefer to refrain from discussing technical details. Trade craft off limits.

[bemildred]

9. Definitely not a good idea, but it seems a hard lesson for some to learn. nt

[TomClash]

11. We also gave Iran nuclear technology

Another genius move by Bush

[formercia]

12. That makes them dependent on the US Military-Industrial complex

otherwise, they would have to reverse-engineer all of those clunky Soviet-era components available on the black market.

[DrDebug]

13. It is a slightly different technology

Pakistan was given the Urenco technology which was a continuation of the Nazi A-Bomb. The two scientists of that nazi research center were Wilhelm Groth and Jacob Kistemaker who in 1971 persuaded the British government to continue their research because they claimed it was more efficient which resulted in the founding of Urenco Capenhurst Ltd as a corporate uranium enrichment plant which is merely the practical use for continuing the nazi A-Bomb research.

A.Q. Khan was send to the Netherlands - one of the two main research centers lead by Jacob Kistemaker (see above) - for a very practical reason: The technology is distinct from the US/UK technology (The Uk and US have almost identical technology) and also distinct from the French technology which is also used by Israel.

The technology apparently worked because Pakistan has since then created their nuke. North Korea, Libya, and Iran also use this same technology which ironically started as a nazi program.

So even though it was to prevent Soviet technology, the technology is different and ironically more efficient as well...