Back To Iraq: The Sounds of Violence
When I left Iraq seven weeks ago the combined effects of the US troop surge, a Shiia militia ceasefire and Sunni groups turning against Al Qaeda meant the country had made great improvements in terms of security and standards of living. I came back yesterday to find much of that good work starting to unravel.
Driving from the airport to the bureau we heard that a curfew had been imposed across Baghdad – the first curfew since November last year. Tens of thousands of people are protesting against the government. Hundreds of people are dead in fierce fighting between Shiia militias and the Iraqi army. The sounds of warfare are once again very loud across the city. Stray mortars, rockets and bullets — intended for neighborhoods close to the FOX News bureau — have an increased potential to overshoot their target and hit us instead.
Overnight, the Iraqi Government flip-flopped on a crucial anti-insurgent demand. When I went to bed last night, Prime Minister Maliki had laid down the gauntlet to the warring Shiia militias: issuing a 72 hour ultimatum to surrender. In fact, Maliki said he would fight them “until the end.” I’m not sure what happened while I was sleeping, but this morning Maliki looks like he’s in a much weaker position than just 24 hours ago. He’s told the militias they’ve got ten days to surrender now – and he’s offering bundles of cash if the militia fighters turn in their weapons.
Part of the reason for Maliki’s flip-flop could be that there’s ongoing negotiations we don’t know much about (a source in Basra has just told us there’s word emerging now of a possible five day ceasefire.) Part of the reason could be that resistance in Basra in particular is stronger than the Iraqis imagined it would be (and now we hear reports of Coalition aircraft bombing enemy positions in Basra – so the US military is now being dragged into the fight too).
And the latest information – not good news if it turns out to be true – is that Shiia militia fighters have seized control of the city of Nasiriya. Watch this space…
Watch Iraq's rebuilding efforts through the eyes of our Baghdad Bureau — reporters risking it all to bring you fair and balanced coverage from the Mideast.
David,
Has there been any reaction from officials in Iraq (Iraqi govt or U.S. military) to the Pentagon report showing Saddam Hussein’s extensive support for Islamic terrorism, including anti American plots?
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NWQzMmY4MGFmZDZkZjZmNTAwYTMzODFhNzllOWVkNDQ=
How can President Bush stand up in Dayton with a straight face and say that there has been a “rebirth of Iraqi civil society” and that progress is remarkable when deaths of Iraqis & of our brave soldiers continue w/o end and there is only 1 hour of electricity a day and raw sewage flows through the streets?
Oops!
The good, the bad and the ugly. It will get better with time, and we have alot of that. God Bless Our Troops.
geez man, i tell you…as soon as things get better, all the nay-sayers quiet down and at the 1st instance of strife…POW!!! they come out saying “i told you so” or “bush’s war this…bush’s war that”. you know, if the energy they sure to rally against iraq was actually used to benefit the situation, we probably would have already been done with the situation.
our troops, the best group of men anywhere, our goverment, the laughing stock of the world, im sure that given the guidence from a country that has been perched as a format for other countrys liberty, that iraq and every other country in the world today would not ask for a solution to there probloms from a country as blatantly misguided as this one,
if the best we have are running the united states,then we have no reason to be helping others, by far, the most egotisical arrogant lying self deserving dilusional enept money hungry group ever to walk the planet,with absolute disregard and lack of leadership this was and is the end result, a defunct economy and bankruptcy, a feeling known all to well to mr bush,and further, if there was a forcast for repair which is not even in the picture it would take a thousand years to fix what this incompentant moran has accomplished,
and there is no one to blame but yourselves,
if bush rice cheny rumsfeld greenspan and a host of others are the best we have may god have mercy on your souls, its a american travisty,and our young men and women who just do as there told,god bless them,
as no one can wait until this administration is ousted from the hill, it only seems fitting that they all resign and keep some small spec of dignity,