Inside the Imam Ali shrine, Najaf - Guardian

[qwertyMike]

Sat Aug 21:
Inside the pockmarked entrance of Najaf's Imam Ali shrine, there were no police to be seen yesterday afternoon.

"We haven't given up. This is a lie by the government," said Amar Al-Khaji, a 29-year-old civil engineer from Baghdad. "As you can see, we are still here."

Only hours earlier a senior Iraqi government official had claimed that Iraqi police had secured the shrine, apparently bringing to an end the two-week standoff with Mr Sadr's militia. At least 400 Mahdi army members had been arrested, and the bloodshed had ended.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1287763,00.html

[necso]

1. Our government and its puppets

are simply making up news these days.

This does not surprise me. That the media laps this vomit up like the dogs that they are, does not surprise me either.

What does surprise me is that the American people can see their tanks burning, apparently abandoned in the streets of Baghdad, and not scream out in rage.

Or maybe they haven't seen it. --- I don't watch American "news" any more, except for the weather (which they do a real crappy job on).

Has it come to this? Has it really come to this?

[NJCher]

2. yep, it has

It's a made-up story fairyland in the American news media.

Boy is it ever going to be some kinda' shock when the people drinking the KoolAid learn the truth.


Cher

[JohnDoe1]

3. Replacement

Hey, they had to replace Baghdad Bob with someone.

[Aidoneus]

5. replacement?

he's probably writing the "Iraqi gov't" scripts for them. Why do you think the invaders were so eager to round up all high level members of the "former regime", if not for giving them new jobs behind the curtain?--like when Nazis were rounded up and put to use by the OSS/CIA even before the war was technically over. Few in Najaf can distinguish this campaign from '91, aside from the detail of American mercenaries (Bremer's old posse, if I'm not mistaken) flanking the mustache-less Baathist dictator in Baghdad.

[lapfog_1]

4. I guess we now know why

the Iraqi police were threatening to kill all of the journalists
in Najaf. Can't have any witnesses. Can't have even the passive
embedded (in bed ' ed) idiot 'Merican newsies even asking stupid
questions.

---------------------------------------------------------

Iraqi Police to journalist - "See, we now occupy the Holy Iman
Ali Shrine!"... Journalist - "uh... but those guys there don't look
like policemen" Iraqi Police - "Who you goin' believe - me or
your lyin eyes!"

[Aidoneus]

6. At this time..

Jaysh al-Mahdi still hold the Masjid, waiting for it to be taken over by the marja'iya, and also still hold most of the ruined ghost town in spite of the aggression campaign. In spite of the so-called truce being spoken of, dozens of Najafis have been murdered in the last 24hrs alone, adding to the hundreds of other martyrs in the previous weeks. The Baghdad regime of the Baathist dictator (this time without a mustache) and to a lesser extent the US occupyers (a little more quiet for once, letting bombs speak for themselves instead) have plainly told lies about this matter of "who controls what", spreading confusion in an attempt to mask their desperate position. They have sown this confusion quite deliberately as well with their threats against journalists, while at the same time the moqawama has shown themselves friendly and open to the press. Some fear the truth being told more than others. :shrug:

What is more important, strategically rather than symbolically, than this matter in Najaf is what is going on in al-Basrah:--reportedly, around 95% of the city has been taken out of the control of the British occupyers by now. With supply lines in the south threatened and the highway between Jordan and Baghdad run by the Fallujan Islamic Resistance, the occupyers have relied more and more on air transport to supply themselves from their colonies in the occupied peninsula. That is news, even more important in the short-term than what is going on in Najaf (which has greater long-term and permanent signifigance, of course).