The fighting has also spread to Baghdad, where there were further rocket attacks on the Green Zone todayBush is attempting another Fallujah and advancing the slaughter of the Shi'ites. Basra is under attack this time. It controls the oil in Southern Iraq and Bush wants it. The turbulence of Basra and the interruption of the oil from that city is why oil spiked to $107.00 a barrel. Bush is going to kill more Shi'ites and he is masking that truth by stating they are the problem along with Iran. So the USA is carrying out a greater genocide of people and causing more and more ethnic tensions. There was a ceasefire by the Mahdi Army, now they have no choice but to fight and their Cleric is still calling for a peaceful resolve. Is that what Bush stated today in his speech? No. He stated there was more problems. That is not the case, but, then when has he ever told the truth regarding Iraq. Iraq is a chronic oil war and a training ground for Al Qaeda because of the USA occupation.
Smoke billowed into the sky from the exploded oil pipeline seven miles to the south of Basra
Al-Sadr urges solution to Iraq violence (click here)
3 hours ago
Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr wants a "political solution" to the crisis that has led to deadly clashes between his followers and government security forces this week in Baghdad and the oil-rich south.
In a brief statement released in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, al-Sadr said he wants "everyone to pursue political solutions and peaceful protests and a stop to the shedding of Iraqi blood".
The statement was relayed to the media by al-Sadr's close aide Hazem al-Aaraji. The American Public is completely censored from the realities of the Bush Offensive in Iraq, by chronic dramas of the Democratic primaries and the collapsed economy. The Right Wing Nuts of the Republican Party are even spinning the economic collapse of the USA and the USA dollar that they are calling it 'The Perfect Storm.' The Perfect Republican Storm that cost people their homes is supposed to get so terrible that the entire 'socialized system' of government entitlements will implode, like Social Security. In other words, "The Perfect Republican Storm" will serve not just as a recession but a complete collapse of the federal fiscal infrastructure and shut down all the entitlements they absolutely hate. Won't that be something. The part of the USA economy that is still surviving is partly from the government payouts to the SSI system. What's going to happen with the bonuses we are all going to get this year? Imploded along with SSI?But, to return to the Bush speech and away from the political and 'money starved' USA; its primary to add justification to the 'Genocide of the Shia of Southern Iraq' to secure their oil away from them. It's just that simple. There was virtually no trouble in Southern Iraq until the USA invaded Basra. The Genocide of the Shia is only based in Republican Greed. Dead Iraqis for Oil, quite a program this time, huh?
Areas of Baghdad fall to militias as Iraqi Army falters in Basra (click here)
Iraq’s Prime Minister was staring into the abyss today after his operation to crush militia strongholds in Basra stalled, members of his own security forces defected and district after district of his own capital fell to Shia militia gunmen.
With the threat of a civil war looming in the south, Nouri al-Maliki’s police chief in Basra narrowly escaped assassination in the crucial port city, while in Baghdad, the spokesman for the Iraqi side of the US military surge was kidnapped by gunmen and his house burnt to the ground.
Saboteurs also blew up one of Iraq's two main oil pipelines from Basra, cutting at least a third of the exports from the city which provides 80 per cent of government revenue, a clear sign that the militias — who siphon significant sums off the oil smuggling trade — would not stop at mere insurrection....
The attacks on Basra are unjustified, yet, because of the Shia having such a stronghold on it, it became a target for the oil greed of this Commander and Chief. He stated he believed in the 'provincial' process of the Iraqi people, yet, through this attack he directly has authorized the killing of people that have established a Shia Province in Southern Iraq.
Iraqi lawmakers to hold emergency session Friday (click here)
Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:23pm EDT
Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers will hold an emergency session on Friday to discuss ways of ending violence in the oil city of Basra, where security forces have launched a crackdown on Shi'ite militia, the parliament's speaker said. ''Today...";
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers will hold an emergency session on Friday to discuss ways of ending violence in the oil city of Basra, where security forces have launched a crackdown on Shi'ite militia, the parliament's speaker said.
"Today (Thursday) we reviewed the situation in Basra. We agreed to hold an emergency session tomorrow to discuss the Basra situation and how to resolve it," speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani told Reuters.
U.S.-backed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed on Thursday that security forces would battle Shi'ite militia in Basra "to the end" despite huge demonstrations to demand his resignation.
Mehdi Army Fighters loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr remained in control of much of Basra, Iraq's second biggest city and main oil hub, defying a three-day government offensive that has led to violence spreading across the south and Baghdad.
Mashhadani said representatives of Shi'ite and Sunni parties in parliament, including lawmakers loyal to Sadr, had agreed to attend the special session starting at 3 p.m. (8 a.m. EDT).
Authorities have imposed a three-day curfew in the capital to contain the clashes.
(Reporting by Ross Colvin; editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)
The Washington Post had an interesting point of view in that most of what is occurring with this White House is spin. They are right, but, I sure didn't expect to hear it from the 'kiss-ass' Washington Post. This is finally a move in the right direction by the press and they need to keep going. The fact is that a full one-third of the Iraqi people are in sincere poverty and this blog has addressed that with the same assertion that IF there were to be further hardship to the Iraqi people there could be a genocide collapse of those most at risk for failure from the Iraqi infrastructure. The global community needs to call for a halt to this attempt to destroy a community of Shia in order to advance a 'Western Conceptualized Government.'
Spinning the Bloodshed in Basra (click here)
...There is plenty of reason to doubt the White House spin. Just look at what's happening on the ground, compare that to what the U.S. military is saying about it, and recall the administration's many previous statements of optimism about Iraq....
The Iraq Centralized Government has tried this before, but, this time they are being more bold and attempting to kill Ayatollahs as well to rid the Shia majority of the South of their most peaceful and influential Holy Men. Bush needs to knock it off. This is a full front attack against the Southern Shia of Iraq.
In Iraq, Sistani's Deputy Seriously Wounded In Assassination Attempt (click here)
Abd Al-Wakil Al-Idani, deputy to Shi'ite leader Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, has been seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in the city of Basra.
It was reported that he is currently in intensive care and is not yet out of danger.
Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, March 20, 2008
Something tells me the USA and Iraqi government really pissed of the Shia this time ! Any one have those C-5s ready for take off out of Baghdad International Airport? No? Why not? I mean the Green Zone has been breached and it has been breached for some time now. So, this might be the time to call a retreat actually! You know, sort of like the escape off the roof tops in Vietnam kind of retreat. I'd have that 'back up plan' up and running if I were responsible for American lives over there.
Diplomats told to take cover in Baghdad (click here)
3/27/2008, 7:12 p.m. EDT
By MATTHEW LEE
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has instructed all personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad not to leave reinforced structures due to incoming insurgent rocket fire that has killed two American government workers this week.
In a memo sent Thursday to embassy staff and obtained by The Associated Press, the department says employees are required to wear helmets, body armor and other protective gear if they must venture outside and strongly advises them to sleep in blast-resistant locations instead of the less secure trailers that most occupy.
"Due to the continuing threat of indirect fire in the International Zone, all personnel are advised to remain under hard cover at all times," it says. "Personnel should only move outside of hard cover for essential reasons."...
It would be a very wise decision for George Walker Bush and Richard Cheney to get out of the affairs of Iraq and stay out. Before they invaded Basra, things were actually looking up ! So much for, to quote Bush, "Iraqi mothers that want the same thing that American mothers want, peace." It looks as though the Iraqis won't be able to get any peace until their oil wells are finally dry.
Sistani meets U.N. officials in Najaf (click here)
Published: March 13, 2008 at 11:48 PM
NAJAF, Iraq, March 13 (UPI) -- Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali al-Sistani stressed the need for reconciliation and free and fair Iraqi elections in a meeting with senior U.N. officials.Sistani met with head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, in Najaf to discuss the increased humanitarian and political activities UNAMI is overseeing in Iraq, the mission said in a statement.Sistani spoke at length with de Mistura on the challenges Iraq continues to face on the political and reconciliation front.The meeting focused on the importance of Iraqi national reconciliation and Sistani called for increased consultation between U.N. officials and his ruling council of clerics, the Marja'iya.Sistani also stressed the need for the Iraqi people to conduct free and fair elections in the future that met international standards of transparency.
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