[Marxism] Aljazeera: Sadr orders stand down of Mahdi fighters in Basra, other provinces

[Fred Feldman]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4A7BD647-8FA0-4548-A81B-F64FCF185C37.
htm

[Emphasis added]

SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2008
15:47 MECCA TIME, 12:47 GMT

Sadr orders fighters to stand down

Scores of people have been killed in clashes across southern Iraq since the
crackdown started [AFP]

Muqtada al-Sadr, an Iraqi Shia leader, has ordered his fighters to withdraw
from the streets of several provinces, six days after Iraqi forces mounted a
crackdown against Shia armed groups.

"We want the Iraqi people to stop this bloodshed and maintain Iraq's
independence and stability," al-Sadr said in a statement released on Sunday.

"For that we have decided to withdraw [al-Sadr's Mahdi Army] from the
streets of Basra and all other provinces."

At least 270 people have reportedly died since an Iraqi military crackdown
in Basra sparked fighting across the country.

Curfew imposed

Al-Sadr's order comes a day after he called on Arab states to support his
militia's battle against "US occupation", amid continuing clashes between
armed Shia groups and Iraqi government forces.

Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, has personally supervised the
operation in Basra against the militia groups.

He told state-owned television on Saturday that Iraqi forces would not leave
"without restoring security and order".

"There are some among us who are worse than al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda is killing
innocents, al-Qaeda is destroying establishments and they [Shia fighters]
also," he said.

Late on Saturday, the Baghdad military command extended the curfew in the
capital indefinitely.

The curfew, which was imposed late on Thursday, was originally set to expire
on Sunday at 5am (0200 GMT).

James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Baghdad, said: "The curfew shows
that the government is extremely nervous.

"Sunday should be a normal working day here in Iraq and I think they wanted
to lift the curfew so that people could go about their normal business," he
said.

Basra fighting

Police in Basra said on Sunday that 163 people have been killed and about
500 injured in sporadic clashes in the city between government forces and
militias since Tuesday.

In the southern city of Nasiriyah, 67 people have been killed and another
137 wounded, local officials said. 

Shia fighters have continued to clash with
Iraqi forces despite calls to surrender [AFP]

At least 10 mortars fell into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone as sporadic
fighting continued overnight into Sunday.

Bays told Al Jazeera he had no evidence that a major Iraqi military
operation took place in Basra.

"[Iraqi forces] are having to rely, to an extent, on air power provided
by... British and American aircraft and Predator unmanned aircraft with
Hellfire missiles," he said on Sunday before al-Sadr order to stand down his
fighters. 

Tom Holloway, British military spokesman for Iraq, told Al Jazeera that
British forces in Basra had fired artillery rounds at people they had
identified as opposition fighters.

"We've been firing in support of Iraqi ground forces. They've been in
contact, they've requested support from the coalition and artillery on a
couple of occasions has been deemed the most appropriate response."

"We use our surveillance assets and conduct a collateral damage assessment.
Obviously, once we've positively identified the target we make an assessment
that we are able to attack it," he said.

Holloway said that British involvement in the operation is "entirely in line
with the agreements with the government of Iraq", known as operational
overwatch.

Iraqi police said that eight civilians were killed and seven wounded in an
air raid by US aircraft on a house in Basra on Saturday.

US forces said they had killed 48 fighters in air strikes and gun battles
across Baghdad on Friday.

Scores of people are also reported to have been killed in fighting in other
towns across the south of the country.

Fighting has also been reported in the central city of Karbala.

Mahdi Army targeted

The Basra crackdown is aimed at disarming the city's warring Shia militias,
including the Mahdi Army of al-Sadr, as well as crushing a number of
criminal gangs.

An al-Sadr official said Iraqi troops in Baghdad
tried to handover arms to the group [AFP]

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday, al-Sadr called on the
Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the United
Nations to recognise "the Iraqi resistance".

"I appeal to these parties to add legitimacy to the resistance and to stand
by, not against, the Iraqi people because the Iraqi people need Arabs as
much as they need any other person," he said.

"The occupation is trying to divide Sunnis and Shias. It is trying to drive
a wedge between Sadris and the Sunnis. I love the Sunnis. I am a Shia, but
we are all Iraqis.

"Iraq is still under occupation and the United States' popularity is
reducing every day and every minute in Iraq.

"I call, through Al Jazeera, for the departure of the occupying troops from
Iraq as soon as possible."

On Thursday, al-Maliki said that Basra residents would receive a "reward" if
they handed in "heavy and medium-size weapons".

Many fighters loyal to al-Sadr had rejected the al-Maliki's call to disarm,
but an official from al-Sadr's bloc said Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad had
attempted to hand their weapons over to him.

"We told them they should keep their arms. We gave them a Quran and they
went back," Salman al-Afraiji said.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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