[Marxism] "If I had a rocket launcher, some sonofabitch would die!'" Guardian reports from Sadr City

[Fred Feldman]

'They know the Sadrists will win the elections,' Thahabi said. 'So they are
using the Americans against the Mahdi army. People have reached a point that
they will sell their refrigerator to buy a rocket launcher to kill
Americans.'


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

Under siege in Baghdad's Mahdi army stronghold The violence that began in
Basra and spread to the capital continues as fears of a new civil war grow
Sudarsan Raghavan The Observer, Sunday March 30 2008


A Shia gunman in Basra. Photograph: Esssam Al-Sudani/AFP/Getty images 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.