“Iraqi Army” turns on the Americans
Watch for more of this to happen:
US Apache helicopters sprayed fire on the private army of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during fierce battles today in the western Baghdad district of Al-Showla, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said.
“Two Apaches opened fire on armed members of the Mehdi Army,” said Showla resident Abbas Amid.
The fighting erupted when five trucks of US soldiers and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) tried to enter the district and were attacked by Sadr supporters, Amid said.
Coming under fire, the ICDC, a paramilitary force trained by the Americans, turned on the US soldiers and started to shoot at them, according to Amid.
The soldiers fled their vehicles and headed for cover and then began to battle both the Mehdi Army and the ICDC members, he said. Their vehicles were set ablaze.
Classic guerilla tactics. Watch for the same thing to happen in Fallujah today. Reports like this are all over the wires:
U.S. forces ready Fallujah crackdown
Some 1,200 U.S. Marines and two battalions of Iraqi security forces were poised to enter the city to arrest suspected insurgents
For an example of how well the Americans are doing getting the Iraqis to fight for them:
Members of the new Iraqi army and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps were to play support roles in the operation, but some had to be sent home today when they reported without their uniforms or ID cards, Marines said.
Sadr’s Al-Mahdi army has taken over some “government buildings” in Basra and are currently in a pitched battle with UK troops.
As the US troops moved into Falluja, there were reports in Baghdad of fighting and demonstrations in all quarters of the capital.
Heavy fighting between Mr Sadr’s Mehdi Army and the Americans was raging in Shualla district, which has been locked down. Weapons were reportedly being stockpiled in a Shiite mosque in Kadamihya, and Iraqi police in the same area are said to have reported to Mr Sadr’s office, volunteering to fight with his men. Several loud explosions could be heard from the city centre.
There were heavy tank movements and aerial surveillance of trouble spots, and reports from Basra, in the south, said that as many as 1000 al-Sadr supporters had taken over the governor’s residence.