exporting civil war

The truth is now too dangerous to report:

""You people are not under arrest," Najaf police chief Ghalib al-Jezari told them. "You are brought here because I want to tell you that you never publish the truth. I speak the truth, but you never broadcast what we are." The reporters, packed into the office, with some sitting on the floor in front of the police chief, protested at their detention. "You have kidnapped us at gunpoint," said one reporter."

United States war planes continue to shoot liberation missiles just meters from the shrine in Najaf:

"At around 10:30 am (0630 GMT), the deafening explosion shook the mausoleum, where up to 600 people are thought to be holed up, said the reporter inside the building"

We continue to bomb Fallujah. More dead & wounded, not winning many popularity contests, I presume.

• Meanwhile, 10 assailants set a several oil pipelines in southern Iraq ablaze, shutting them down.


• 20 pipelines have been attacked.


• The Polish Embassy in Baghdad was shelled.


• The British soldiers continue to clash with shi`ites in Basra.


• Japanese troops in Samawah were shelled.


• Spy working for the CIA in Iraq suffers loss of head. (I'd love to say we do not hang people for treason, but I cannot.)


• Dozens dead and hundreds wounded as a mosque is mortar shelled in Kufa


• Sistani's peace march on Najaf draws bloodshed.

  within hours of al-Sistani's arrival, at least 10 Iraqis, who had answered his call to travel to Najaf and "rescue" the city from the fighting that has raged there, were shot dead by unidentified assailants.

The power groups in Iraq are highly fragmented and disjointed. I wonder if we should call this a civil war yet? If mortar shells were flying around my neighborhood and protesters were being shot in the streets, a civil war is what I would call it.

Power exploits us, peace avoids us.

The toll of the Kufa shrine shelling is now listed at 74 killed & 376 wounded:

"A 24-hour ceasefire was declared in the city as soon as Sistani arrived on the order of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. The local governor said hostilites would resume if a solution to the standoff against Sadr's Shiite militia was not found by then. The start of peace talks marked a deadly day in Najaf's twin city of Kufa, where 74 people were killed and 376 wounded in a mortar attack on the main mosque and shooting at a march, the health ministry said. "We have started contacts with Moqtada Sadr and in the coming hours we are waiting, hoping that we will succeed in saving the city from destruction," said Sistani spokesman Ahmed al-Khaffaf. Sadr spokesman Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani, speaking very briefly to reporters, confirmed that talks were ongoing but accused the Americans of taking advantage of the truce to target Mehdi Army fighters. "If the Americans start shooting, then you should return fire. Otherwise, you should never open fire at the Americans," said Shaibani via loudspeaker, blarred out across the shrine and beyond the walls to the fighters. "

Turkish press is reporting Sistani has brokered a truce with Mehdi.

"Rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr has agreed to a peace initiative from Iraq`s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to end fierce fighting in the holy city of Najaf, a spokesman said Thursday. "Sayed (honorific) Moqtada Sadr has agreed on Grand Ayatollah Sistani`s conditions," Sistani spokesman Hamid Khaffaf told reporters. The elderly ayatollah, treated to a euphoric welcome since returning from medical treatment in London on Wednesday, has signalled that he wants all armed groups to disarm in Najaf and Kufa and all foreign troops to leave. Talks between Sistani and Sadr`s camps started earlier Thursday, said a spokesman for the ayatollah, but it was not clear if the two leaders themselves had met face-to-face as officials said they had 24 hours to find a solution. "

That is pretty damn light on details. I will believe the peace when I see it hold.

Al Jazerra reports:

"The five-point peace plan calls for:

• Najaf and Kufa to be declared weapons-free cities


• All foreign forces to withdraw from Najaf


• Police to be in charge of security


• The government to compensate those harmed by the fighting,
  
• Undertaking a census to prepare for the expected elections by January.

"Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr agreed to the initiative of his eminence al-Sistani," Hamed al-Khafaf told reporters at a news conference outside the house where al-Sistani is staying. "You will hear good news soon from the government and Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr."