Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
US Backed Iraqi Government Bans Journalists From Covering Najaf Massacre
The Iraqi authorities ordered foreign journalists to leave Najaf yesterday, threatening to arrest or even shoot reporters as US marines and Iraqi government forces resumed the fight against Shia militants.
Iraqi police told the journalists to leave because of a supposed threat by insurgents to bomb their hotel. The intimidation - including shots apparently fired by police at the hotel - came as Iyad Allawi, the interim prime minister, hailed the birth of democracy in Iraq at the opening of a national conference in Baghdad.
The fighting in Najaf, the epicentre of a revolt led by the Shia militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, caused protests from some delegates.
The gathering, which took place as insurgents fired mortars close to the conference centre in Baghdad's highly-protected Green Zone, will choose the members of an embryonic parliament to oversee the government. However some Shia delegates demanded the suspension of the conference until the fighting in Najaf stops.
A brief ceasefire in Najaf collapsed at the weekend. As fighting resumed, Mr Allawi demanded that Sadr's followers, the Mahdi army, lay down their weapons and move out of the Shrine of Ali. There was repeated gunfire and explosions around the mosque, one of the holiest in Shia Islam.
The attempt to impose a news blackout in Najaf will reinforce the suspicions that a politically risky assault to storm the shrine will soon be under way.
Damage to the shrine or the entry of US troops into the compound could provoke a Shia backlash and increase support for Sadr.
http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/16/wirq16.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/08/16/ixportaltop.html
The fighting in Najaf, the epicentre of a revolt led by the Shia militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, caused protests from some delegates.
The gathering, which took place as insurgents fired mortars close to the conference centre in Baghdad's highly-protected Green Zone, will choose the members of an embryonic parliament to oversee the government. However some Shia delegates demanded the suspension of the conference until the fighting in Najaf stops.
A brief ceasefire in Najaf collapsed at the weekend. As fighting resumed, Mr Allawi demanded that Sadr's followers, the Mahdi army, lay down their weapons and move out of the Shrine of Ali. There was repeated gunfire and explosions around the mosque, one of the holiest in Shia Islam.
The attempt to impose a news blackout in Najaf will reinforce the suspicions that a politically risky assault to storm the shrine will soon be under way.
Damage to the shrine or the entry of US troops into the compound could provoke a Shia backlash and increase support for Sadr.
http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/16/wirq16.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/08/16/ixportaltop.html
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
'"...suspicions....?"
Who do you think you are kidding? It is more than obvious that the reason that
-- Al Jazeera Baghdad offices closed by the rogue states mercenaries in order to stop the flow of the truth concerning their criminal aggression against a sovereign people,
-- that "journalists" were forcibly evicted from Najaf is precisely so that no true information is "leaked" so that the criminal regime that is the American government of today will not be overly afflicted by the facts of their existence. This would make it more difficult for Kerry to continue the criminal policies he also represents.
There is no "suspicion" here, there is merely brute evidence of a common enemy to law and the rights of humanity that must be and will be dealt with by any means necessary.
This will be reported as there are happily Journalists imbedded (instead of in bed as is the case with so called western "journalists" who are nothing more than prostitutes that will print whatever they are told to as long as they can keep their own material standard alive a little longer) with the Iraqi national forces defending Najaf.
The only good thing about Najaf is that a sustained attempt on an urban center delivers many ready targets of opportunity along the American mercenary army´s logistical tail as well as brings second line units & senior cadres closer.
It has also made it abundantly clear to all peoples, especially Iraqi citizens and followers of Mohammedian thought, that the so called "interim government" is nothing more than a group of mini-Husseins working in the interests of the criminal oligarch that attempts the subjugation of Iraq for it´s own geopolitical ends.
Everyone is of course well aware that Hussein was in fact paid by the American regime and supplied with WMD´s by same which were then used against Iraqi citizens. When will the current group of "mini-Husseins" approve the use of WMD´s against it´s peoples? Or will depleted uranium be enough to do the job satisfactorily?
Any American that supports the open criminal aggression for a profit by it´s unelected regime representing only the corporate oligarch can from this moment forward consider themselves "enemy combatants" to our own precepts and laws.
Who do you think you are kidding? It is more than obvious that the reason that
-- Al Jazeera Baghdad offices closed by the rogue states mercenaries in order to stop the flow of the truth concerning their criminal aggression against a sovereign people,
-- that "journalists" were forcibly evicted from Najaf is precisely so that no true information is "leaked" so that the criminal regime that is the American government of today will not be overly afflicted by the facts of their existence. This would make it more difficult for Kerry to continue the criminal policies he also represents.
There is no "suspicion" here, there is merely brute evidence of a common enemy to law and the rights of humanity that must be and will be dealt with by any means necessary.
This will be reported as there are happily Journalists imbedded (instead of in bed as is the case with so called western "journalists" who are nothing more than prostitutes that will print whatever they are told to as long as they can keep their own material standard alive a little longer) with the Iraqi national forces defending Najaf.
The only good thing about Najaf is that a sustained attempt on an urban center delivers many ready targets of opportunity along the American mercenary army´s logistical tail as well as brings second line units & senior cadres closer.
It has also made it abundantly clear to all peoples, especially Iraqi citizens and followers of Mohammedian thought, that the so called "interim government" is nothing more than a group of mini-Husseins working in the interests of the criminal oligarch that attempts the subjugation of Iraq for it´s own geopolitical ends.
Everyone is of course well aware that Hussein was in fact paid by the American regime and supplied with WMD´s by same which were then used against Iraqi citizens. When will the current group of "mini-Husseins" approve the use of WMD´s against it´s peoples? Or will depleted uranium be enough to do the job satisfactorily?
Any American that supports the open criminal aggression for a profit by it´s unelected regime representing only the corporate oligarch can from this moment forward consider themselves "enemy combatants" to our own precepts and laws.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$230.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network