by Voices in the Wilderness UK

Despite the 26 August ‘peace plan’ ending the siege of Najaf, US forces have continued to kill Iraqis in large numbers elsewhere in Iraq. Meanwhile US Army officials have declared their intention to ‘retake’ Baghdad’s impoverished Sadr City slum and to launch major assaults on cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi within the next four months should other methods of regaining control fail.

THE KILLING CONTINUES: SADR CITY

Two days after the ‘peace plan’ was agreed, on the 28 August, the US fought members of Moqtada al-Sadr’s militia in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum to which hundreds of militiamen had returned from Najaf (Washington Post, 29 August). ‘US soldiers in Humvees drove through the impoverished neighbourhood with loudspeakers, demanding people stay home because coalition forces were “cleaning the area of armed men”‘ (AP, 29 Aug) but with no important religious sites to worry about this was barely news.

On 7 September, following ‘a weeklong calm’ after Moqtada al-Sadr declared a unilateral ceasefire, gun battles broke out in Sadr City ‘leaving at least 40 Iraqis and 1 American soldier dead and 202 people wounded’ (NYT, 8 Sept). Locals claimed that ‘a provocative American patrol .. deep into Sadr City’ had sparked the fighting (Guardian, 8 September). “The Americans tried to arrest some people from the Mahdi army,” Abu Hussein, a 20-year old shop keeper told the Guardian. “They come here, and start randomly arresting and randomly shooting. Then the Mahdi army fires back.”