Sadr supporter says US ‘occupation forces’ are provoking the fighting

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/August/focusoniraq_August154.xml§ion=focusoniraq

Iraqi forces battle Shiite militia as bomb hits ministry

<snip>A security official in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said many of the soldiers had been ‘executed’ after being captured by the militia and that government forces had lost control of some city districts. snip

An Iraqi army captain in Diwaniyah said: ‘We have also asked for more troops from other provinces because a big military operation has been planned.’ snip

‘What is going on is an attempt by the government to get rid of an element which is trying to disturb the security of the town,’ said Abdumunaam Abu Tibikh of the provincial council of Qadisiyah, of which Diwaniyah is capital.

A senior Sadr supporter in the nearby holy Shite city of Najaf, Sahab al-Ameri, also disowned the fighters.

‘These acts have nothing to do with the Mahdi Army,’ he told AFP, blaming ‘infiltrators’ for carrying out the killings. He nonetheless accused US ‘occupation forces’ of provoking the fighting.

[Kagemusha]

1. Damn right US forces are provoking the fighting. They're not hiding it.

They think these Sadr-affiliated militia types who are only loosely under his control (esp. when Iraqi forces duel with them, obviously) must be confronted here and now. The actual close buddies of Iran in the Iraqi govt are being left alone.

[FloridaPat]

2. Have to get out if everything is peaceful. Halliburton would hate that.