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bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
Ethnic cleansing in Baghdad
Baghdad street becomes new Fallujah
The Australian
January 10, 2007
US and Iraqi troops, backed by American F-15 jet fighters and Apache
attack helicopters, fought suspected insurgents for at least 12 hours in
one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighbourhoods in what may be a preview
of expanded US operations in Iraq.
US and Iraqi officials said the assault on the Haifa Street
neighbourhood rooted out an insurgent cell that controlled the area, but
residents from the predominantly Sunni Muslim area and Sunni leaders
said the American forces had been duped by Iraq's Shia-dominated
security forces into participating in a plan to drive Sunnis from the
area.
On the eve of President George W. Bush's announcement of a new war plan
for Iraq, the conflicting versions underscored the difficulty US troops
have in protecting civilians in this sprawling capital where Shiites and
Sunnis are waging pitched battles for control of the neighbourhoods.
In the past several months, Shia militias have pushed into Sunni
neighbourhoods, threatening residents with death if they don't leave.
Sunni residents have responded by arming themselves and welcoming
protection from Iraq's insurgents.
With Mr Bush expected to order additional troops to Baghdad in coming
weeks, Sunni leaders have worried that US troops will end up helping the
Shiites push them from their neighbourhoods.
US officials said Tuesday's operation wasn't aimed at any religious
sect, but at insurgents who've controlled Haifa Street for months.
"It's an area that needed to be brought back under Iraqi security
control," said Lieutenant Colonel Scott Bleichwehl, a US military
spokesman. "There is a progression of missions that are ongoing. It's
not against any particular group or militia. Most of it is driven by the
Iraqi government."
Ali al-Dabaggh, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki,
said the assault was part of a government effort to reassert its
authority in an area where insurgents had taken refuge with remnants of
Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
"This area must be cleansed," he said at a joint news conference with
Rear Admiral Mark Fox, a US military spokesman. "God willing, Haifa
Street will not threaten Baghdad security anymore."
Mr Al-Dabaggh said former Baathists in the area "provided safe haven and
logistics for" terrorist groups trying to destabilise Iraq.
Rear Admiral Fox said the US military would support the Iraqi security
forces. "Anyone who conducts activities outside the rule of law will be
subject to the consequences," he said.
Nearly 1000 US and Iraqi soldiers participated in Tuesday's fighting.
Fifty suspected insurgents were killed and 21 were arrested, the Iraqi
Ministry of Defence said. Three of those arrested were Syrian, the
ministry said.
Planes and helicopters circled over the bullet-scarred buildings during
the fighting, and gunfire and explosions echoed throughout central
Baghdad.
Many Baghdad residents refer to Haifa Street as the capital's
"Fallujah," a reference to the Sunni city in Anbar province that became
a haven for al-Qa'ida in Iraq until US Marines retook it in a bloody
assault in October 2005.
The street was handed over to Iraqi forces in February of last year in
an effort to slowly place the capital under Iraqi control and pave the
way for an American exit. But in the past few months the area became
wracked by violence, and it remains one of the most heavily contested
neighbourhoods in the capital's sectarian battle. Nearly every day,
bodies bearing signs of torture are found discarded along Haifa Street.
Sunni residents said the fighting in their neighbourhood began Saturday
with clashes between Sunnis and Shiites soon after the Association of
Muslim Scholars, the most influential Sunni group in Iraq, warned that
militias would cleanse Baghdad of Sunnis in the coming days.
On Monday, the residents said, gunmen from the Mahdi Army militia of
radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pushed into the area, but were
beaten back by armed Sunni residents protecting their homes.
At dawn on Tuesday, Iraqi troops began to surround the street and
adjacent neighbourhoods, and residents said they took up arms to defend
themselves against Shia-dominated forces.
But the residents said they soon realised that the troops were backed by
Americans as the Iraqi forces blew in doors and raided homes. Gunmen
ringed the roofs, residents said, and men were executed in the streets,
three behind a Sunni mosque.
With the Iraqi forces being backed by Americans, the residents soon gave
up the fight. They laid down their arms, opened their doors and waited,
said Abu Mohammed, 47, a university lecturer who lives on Haifa Street.
By 6 pm the troops pulled out and the neighbourhood was calm.
"What they wanted to do was hit us back," said Mohammed, who asked not
to be further identified for security reasons. "They went to the
Americans and told them, `These are terrorists, and you must come with
the government to detain them.'
"We are afraid that this quiet is the quiet before the storm," he said.
The Association of Muslim Scholars called the assault "a bloody
sectarian massacre."
Muthana Harith al-Thari, a spokesman for the association, went on al-
Jazeera television and read the names of 12 men who were killed.
"All of their guilt was that they defended their neighbourhood," he
said. "The American president said in 2003, `Mission accomplished.' Now
in 2007 he uses jetfighters a few meters from the Green Zone. This is
defeat."
The Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Sunni political organisation in
Iraq, also condemned the action.
source:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21038060-2703,00.html
===
-muslim voice-
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