World-News

Agence France-Presse reports: "Heavy fighting erupted in a bastion of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia in Basra on Thursday, witnesses said, as military operations against gunmen in the southern city entered a third day."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032708J.shtml



Thousands in Baghdad Protest Basra Assault

James Glanz and Graham Bowley for The New York Times report, "In direct confrontation with the American-backed government in Iraq, thousands of supporters of the powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia took to the streets of Baghdad on Thursday to protest the Iraqi Army's assault on the southern port city of Basra, as intense fighting continued there for a third day."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032708R.shtml



Stalled Assault on Basra Exposes the Iraqi Government's Shaky Authority

Patrick Cockburn, reporting for The Independent, writes: "Instead of being a show of strength, the government's stalled assault is demonstrating its shaky authority over much of Baghdad and southern Iraq. As the situation spins out of Mr. Maliki's control, saboteurs blew up one of the two main oil export pipelines near Basra, cutting by a third crude exports from the oilfields around the city."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032808B.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Basra
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Moqtada
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mahdi+Army
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Shiite+cleric
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Maliki
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=James+Glanz
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Patrick+Cockburn

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/a88c67f7558d8601?hl=en


Informant: Jon Carlson



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Dreyfuss
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+Klare

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/f34929608b491f76?hl=en



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=CodePink
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=anniversary
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=4,000

Consortium News
by Nat Parry

03/26/08

Mainstream American journalists and politicians have a new excuse for why they were so oblivious to the Iraq War risks five years ago — that no one could have foreseen the likely disaster. But that simply isn’t true: many brave people spoke up but were ignored...

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/032608b.html?menu=


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Nat+Parry

Truthout's Maya Schenwar and Christopher Kuttruff report: "As conflicts swell in Basra and Baghdad, the Maliki government, supported by the Bush administration, claims it is subduing terrorism and cracking down on militia violence. However, the attacks on the Sadr forces may be primarily motivated by electoral politics and oil control, according to policy experts following Iraq's civil conflict closely."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032608R.shtml

--------

Iraq ruling elite needs US troops to stay in power

Sabah al Nasseri: Gov. attack on Sadr movement meant to prevent their election victory.

http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1254&thisview=item

--------

Why al-Maliki Attacked Basra

By Juan Cole

The three reasons the Iraqi prime minister launched his ill-fated assault on the Sadrists of southern Iraq.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19666.htm



Who Is Iraq's "Firebrand Cleric"?

Veteran Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn explains why Muqtada al-Sadr is no maverick.

By Justin Elliot

If there were elections tomorrow he would probably sweep Shia Baghdad and most of the south. He's not going to take over the whole of Iraq because Iraq is such a divided place these days. The Kurds are never going to let the Arabs take over their chunk, and the Sunni are going to fight like tigers to keep the Shia from taking over their areas.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19665.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Basra
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Maliki
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Muqtada
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sadrists
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=militia+violence
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sadrists
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Maya+Schenwar
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Christopher+Kuttruff
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Juan+Cole
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Patrick+Cockburn

The US blames the latest attacks on rogue Mahdi Army elements tied to Iran, but analysts say the spike in fighting with Shiite militants potentially opens a second front in the war when the American military is still doing battle with the Sunni extremists of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0326/p01s13-woiq.html



Mahdi Army Stands Firm in its Basra Neighborhoods

By Juan Cole

The US faced a dilemma in Iraq. It needed to have new provincial elections in an attempt to mollify the Sunni Arabs, especially in Sunni-majority provinces like Diyala, which has nevertheless been ruled by the Shiite Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. But if they have provincial elections, their chief ally, the Islamic Supreme Council, might well lose southern provinces to the Sadr Movement.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19625.htm


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mahdi+Army
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=sadr
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Shiite+militants
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sunni+extremists
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Basra
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Juan+Cole

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lind/lind138.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/lind

Iraq: Numbers Game
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/27/27580/1.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=casualties

Irak: Ende der Ruhepause
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/27/27585/1.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Basra

http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0325-16.htm



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