Shia fighters seize centre of Nassiriya

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2008/March/focusoniraq_March170.xml§ion=focusoniraq

28 March 2008

BAGHDAD - Fighters loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have seized the centre of the southern Nassiriya city, a Reuters witness said on Friday.

A four-day-old Iraqi army crackdown on Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army in Basra, Iraq’s second city and its gateway to the Gulf, has sparked fighting across the south and in Baghdad.

In the capital, Iraqi lawmakers were due to hold an emergency session in a bid to end violence in the flashpoint oil city of Basra, where Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gave militants a new deadline to hand over their weapons.

A Reuters reporter in Nassiriya, capital of Dhi Qar province, said he could see groups of fighters with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The sound of sporadic gunfire echoed through the streets. Police appeared to be staying in their stations, he said.

Militants have also taken control of the town of Shatra, 40 km to the north, he said, citing witnesses.

[Botany]

1. So the Shia nationalists are beating the Shia who are backed by Maliki?

After all this time and money the government and military we were
backing can not win? Iraq is Vietnam w/ sand.



If the pro Maliki side starts getting beat real bad and we come in to
"help them" we are just getting in deeper.

BTW We are backing the more radical anti western pro Iranian
side in this fight.

That turd bush and his buddies have got us into some real shit.

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. Can't this "Superpower" even handle a weenie occupation of a defenseless country?

.
.
.

That's rhetorical.

Trillion dollar war machine, stealth planes, mega munitions against a gang with AK 47's and IEDs

And losing.

FIVE YEARS!

some cakewalk

[NNN0LHI]

4. Bombs built in Pepsi cans and set off by Craftsman garage door openers

Mind boggling.

Don

[Orwellian_Ghost]

3. K&R n/t