Militia has holy Iraqi city on edge

[gottaB]

Thursday 25 tribal leaders in Najaf called on all armed groups to lay down their weapons and disband.

By Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor.

NAJAF, IRAQ – Nabil Mahdi's small textile business in Najaf's bazaar boomed soon after the US invaded Iraq. The borders opened to Muslim pilgrims for the first time since the 1970s, and hundreds of thousands of Iranian Shiites poured into this famed holy city to pray at the Shrine of Ali, and do a little shopping.

For Mr. Mahdi, whose petroleum engineering degree became useless after he refused to join the Baath Party, it was the first taste of prosperity after decades of suffering under Saddam Hussein. But today, he sits cross-legged among his bolts of cloth without a sale or even a customer in sight.

After 20 years under Saddam, Mr. Mahdi says he has something new to be bitter about: The Mahdi army. The militia loyal to the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has engaged in sporadic gun fights with Spanish and US forces on the outskirts of the city for the past two weeks, and continues to patrol the streets here.

Militia has holy city on edge....

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Also see Murphy's blog posting about his trip to Najaf, My pilgrimage

[saigon68]

1. This mess is not going away quietly

Not at all

[Mari333]

3. The whole country is a mess, and about to explode

I was supposed to go on a trip this month. I wont. I cant leave my husband now, even for 5 days, in the middle of this. Its too much uncertainty. Too much uncertainty in wondering whether all hell will break loose there.
I think right now its best to stick close to home for me.
Thanks a lot, you warmongering festering chest thumping chickenhawks in the WH, for this shit, for ruining so many peoples lives, for trying to destroy the entire world.

[saigon68]

4. Hang in there Mari

I still have hope some cooler heads may prevail

[0007]

2. This can't be a favorable factor for the U.S.

"Officials close to the mainstream Shiite clergy here, led by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, say the large Badr Brigade militia, close to a major Shiite political party, has been ordered to avoid a confrontation with Sadr's men at all costs."

"They say Ayatollah Sistani is worried about a Shiite-on-Shiite conflict." I would imagine that the spooks are working overtime to cause this to happen.