In a NY Times article titled “U.S. Forces, Close to Attack in Najaf, Suddenly Pull Back”, we are told:
The delay came after a day of intense preparation for the attack, with a convoy of tanks and armored vehicles leaving its base.
Officers declined to discuss why they did not go ahead with the attack.
“Preparations to do the offensive are taking longer than initially anticipated,” said Maj. David Holahan, second in command of the Marine battalion in Najaf.
“We never said what time we would do it.”
But a known concern of the American military is that fighting in Najaf’s old city, where many of Mr. Sadr’s guerrillas are hiding, could damage the shrine of Imam Ali, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam.
Damage to the mosque by either side could provoke immense anger among Iraq’s 15 million Shiites, and marines and soldiers have been told that the consequences could be catastrophic.
Any attack must still be approved by Ayad Allawi, Iraq’s prime minister. Officers said they could not disclose whether Mr. Allawi had delayed the attack.
A couple of points about this “attack” which has been “authorized” by the US-appointed governor of Najaf. First, it is extremely stupid to assume that Allawi or the “governor” authorizing the desecration of the most revered shrine in Shi`a Islam will get the Americans who actually enter the shrine off the hook with the millions of Shi`a who will hate them for this. Second, the Times article tells us that there are 5,000 American troops involved in this folly in Najaf. These five thousand troops are surrounded by millions of Iraqi Shi`a, who, granted, are ill-equipped to take on the armored and heavily armed Americans, but are likely to be willing to be martyred in large numbers. Should it come to pass that the US slaughters large numbers of Shi`a who will certainly confront them over the desecration of their holy shrine, the entire Middle East could be consumed in the conflict that would ensue. To get a sense of just how enraged many Iraqis are becoming over this debacle so far, see this article:
Protesters set fire to Allawi’s party offices
Thousands of Iraqis in the southern city of Nassiriya calling for the fall of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, have set fire to the local office of his political party.
The demonstrators are enraged by military action against Shiite rebels in the sacred city of Najaf.
They have screamed: “Down, down Allawi” and “Allawi you coward, you American agent”.
They have held up posters of Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Shiite cleric whose militiamen have been challenging US and Iraqi forces in Najaf for seven straight days.
Nassiriya is one of the seven cities where the Shiite uprising has erupted in the past week – the biggest challenge to Mr Allawi’s interim Government since it took over from the US occupation authority in late June.
The bloodiest fighting is taking place in Najaf, where US helicopter gunships and warplanes have pounded rebel positions.
Any harm to holy sites in the city would enrage millions of Shiites in Iraq and other countries.
Meanwhile, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani hides out in London, where it becomes more apparent daily that he was removed from Najaf in order to allow the crushing of the Sadrist rebels. I cannot see how this wouldn’t be interpreted as cowardice and collaboration with the Occupiers.
zeyad at Healing Iraq argues against “conspiracy theories” which hold that Sistani was forcibly removed from Najaf by the occupation authorities:
Some people have been claiming that Sistani was flown away to London to ‘remove’ him from the scene in Najaf against his will. They underestimate the power of a supreme Hawza cleric, if Sistani wished, he could quite easily issue a fatwa or a statement from his hospital bed against the US actions. A supreme marji’ can’t easily be intimidated or silenced. They forget that Sayyid Mohammed Taqi Al-Shirazi issued the fatwa that sparked the massive 1920 uprising against the British while he was on his death bed, and he did indeed die days later but the revolt did not.
This argument seems even more damaging to Sistani in that he most pointedly has not issued a fatwa, nor has he made any comment on the situation in Najaf, which leads one to the conclusion that he approves of the attack on the Imam Ali Shrine. How can a Shi`a Grand Ayatollah not speak up about the desecration of the most holy shrine of his religion?
Juan Cole: The US military actions in the holy city of Najaf are deeply offensive to Muslims throughout the world. Although many might also criticize Sadr and his militia for using the holy sites as cover, the strongest condemnation inevitably is reserved for the foreign troops, seen as imperialists.
Ironic quote of the Day: “We will not allow them to continue to desecrate this sacred site . . . ” said Colonel Anthony Haslam, commanding officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. (This is after the US dropped bombs on the cemetery, which contains the dead relatives of Shiite Muslims from all over the world, but especially Iraq).
UPDATE: Al Jazeera reports: Workers at an oil-pumping station in southern Iraq said on Wednesday they have stopped operations in protest against the government’s backing of the US offensive against followers of a-Sadr.
The station in the southern Arab Shia town of Nasiriya cut supplies of refined products and liquefied natural gas to Baghdad, a statement by the workers said.
“We stopped pumping in protest of the inhuman conduct of the interim government and its cooperation with the occupation forces to ransack the holy city of Najaf and insult the Shia, their symbols and holy places,” the statement said.
Iraqi oil officials declined to comment. Clashes between US forces and the Al-Mahdi Army since last week have disrupted fuel and other supplies to Baghdad as roads became more hazardous and petrol stations were looted.