Iraq Army Battles Shiites

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq29aug29,0,5544417.story?coll=la-home-world

BAGHDAD — A major battle between the Iraqi army and Shiite Muslim militiamen in the southern city of Diwaniya left more than 40 dead, including 25 soldiers, and more than 90 injured, U.S. and Iraqi military sources said.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene in which combatants fought through the streets using machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. At one point during the battle, which began Sunday night and raged into Monday, militiamen executed a dozen Iraqi soldiers who had run out of ammunition, Maj. Gen. Othman Ghanimi said.

The Iraqi army's inability to deal a swift and decisive blow to the militia uprising in Diwaniya raised questions about the readiness of tens of thousands of recently trained troops who are taking on increased security responsibilities nationwide.

Half of Iraq's 10 army divisions either are in charge of their own territories or are in the process of taking over authority from the U.S.-led coalition. U.S. forces appear to have made progress recently in reducing the level of violence in Baghdad, but ultimately they are counting on having the Iraqi army take responsibility for security there as well.

Further evidence that Iraq's defense network remains divided by regional and sectarian loyalties came over the weekend when 100 Iraqi soldiers of a battalion of 550 refused to deploy to Baghdad from the southeastern province of Maysan, in part because of concern about confronting fellow Muslim sect members. The British military called the incident a mutiny.

[Selatius]

1. The country is in civil war

To refuse to recognize this is to refuse fundamental facts of life in Iraq.

[NNN0LHI]

2. Its not a civil war when we are shipping Kurds in to kill other Iraqis

Its genocide by proxy.

Don


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4466360

Kurd Fighting Force Increasing Role in Iraq Security


Morning Edition, January 26, 2005 · The U.S. military is working with Iraq's best fighting force, the Kurdish militia. The group is well organized, battled hardened and playing a steadily larger role in efforts to suppress the Arab insurgency in central Iraq.


http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:n3v_qE3FkBsJ:www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php%3Fcat%3DSecurity%26loid%3D8.0.193259602%26par%3D0+iraq+army%2BPeshmerga&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3

IRAQ: KURDISH PESHMERGA FORCES TO JOIN IRAQI ARMY


Arbil, 3 August (AKI) - Enrolment has begun in Iraqi Kudistan for the first Kurdish Peshmerga fighters to join Iraq's national army. The recruitment represents the completion of the first phase to create a special brigade within the fourth division of the Iraqi army. Peshmerga is the term used by Kurds to refer to freedom fighters, and literally means "those who face death".

The agreements reached in the last few months will see some 32,000 former guerrillas join the ranks of Iraq's new armed forces, said Jaafar Mustafa, a member of the Peshmerga leadership, but "so far only one brigade has been set up", whose members come from the Sulaymaniya area.

Mustafa also pointed out that "the accords also establish the creation of a special Peshmerga brigade in the Karmiyan region near the disputed northern city of Kirkuk. The detachment is already ready, but we are waiting for the defence ministry to issue an official constitutional decree," he said.

[spanone]

3. Bush* will admit to civil war when it is politically advantageous.

As Michael Brown (Brownie) said, every decision this administration makes is about politics.

[leftchick]

4. The US helped by dropping a 500LB Bomb...

From Juan Cole's site...

<snip>

1. The US military represented itself as just a bystander, having sent helicopters to hover above. But Agence France Press reports today from Diwaniyah:


' During yesterday's fighting, an American F-16 jet dropped a 220kg satellite-guided bomb on an "enemy position" while flying in support of Iraqi and coalition troops, the US air force said. '


2. Some reports and observers represented the Iraqi army as having acquitted itself well. But AFP reports:


' Officials said 81 people died in Diwaniyah in yesterday's clashes between security forces and militiamen and that . . . a peace deal was reached . . . "We killed 50 gunmen in the clashes and this incident resulted in the deaths of 23 of our soldiers and injuries to 30 of them," Mr Maliki said. Mr Jaathi said eight civilians were also killed and 61 wounded bystanders were treated after yesterday's 12-hour gun battle. '


My own guess is that it took local Badr Corps (infiltrated into Diwaniyah police and security forces), Badr Corps Special Police Commandos, Iraqi army soldiers, and a US 500 pound bomb to produce an outcome where ragtag militiamen were fought to a standstill.

http://www.juancole.com/

[NNN0LHI]

5. It was a freedom bomb n/t