Poles urge U.S. against Najaf assault - report [View All]

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16412036.htm

WARSAW, April 16 (Reuters) - Polish military officials responsible for security in part of southern Iraq are arguing hard against taking Shi'ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr by force in Najaf, a leading Polish newspaper said late on Thursday.

U.S. troops are now poised around Najaf, where Sadr's militia started an uprising earlier this month against the U.S.-led occupying forces, but America's top general said talks were under way to avoid a bloodbath in the city.

"Going into Najaf will be a disaster, it will make the main Shi'ite leaders turn away from us," Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper quoted a senior diplomatic source as saying. "If Sadr gives up on violence, we should be talking with him. We want to talk with anyone in Iraq who doesn't shoot at us." snip

On Thursday Polish forces in Iraq said they were blindsided by the violence with Sadr's followers because U.S. officials did not warn them of actions that triggered the bloodshed.

more