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Articles: U.S. Army Will Wait Before Moving on Rebel Cleric

Posted by admin on Monday, April 19, 2004 - 03:20 AM

NEAR NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces poised outside Najaf said on Monday they would allow time for talks before any attempt to enter the holy Iraqi city to seize a rebel cleric -- a move that could spark new unrest.
With U.S. Marines in western Iraq facing the deadliest guerrilla resistance so far, and with Spain set to pull its 1,400 troops out of central Shi'ite regions, the American military is wary of enraging Iraqis by sending troops into one of the most sacred cities in Shi'ite Islam. "Because of where negotiations are right now, we can wait," said Colonel Dana Pittard, commander of the 3rd Brigade Task Force near Najaf. "We still want Iraqis to solve the problem." The U.S. army has said it wants to kill or capture radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is holed up in Najaf, and destroy his Mehdi Army militia. A senior coalition official, who asked not to be identified, said it was unclear how far negotiations by various Iraqi intermediaries had progressed. "It's difficult to get a sense of what's real and what isn't," he said. Pittard said his 2,500-strong force in the area would be replaced in the coming days by around 2,000 soldiers from the 1st Armored Division. The U.S. military, fighting against Sunni guerrillas in western Iraq and Sadr's militiamen in Shi'ite areas of the country, has lost more troops in combat in the last three weeks than in the three-week war that toppled Saddam Hussein. Since March 31, 104 U.S. troops have been killed in action. Fighting on Saturday killed 10 American soldiers, including five Marines who died in clashes with guerrillas near the Syrian border. But a senior coalition military official said the 24 hours to Monday morning had been "remarkably" quiet, with no troops killed and the number of attacks down to 21 from an average of around 50 over the last two weeks. Continued ...

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