U.S. Ignoring Sadr City Cease Fire
Map of Sadr City and vicinity: Green lines indicate completed sections of wall, red is uncompleted wall. Blue diamonds are joint security stations (forts). Yellow symbols are checkpoints sealing off the area of operations, where more than two million people live.
From Bill Roggio on The Long War Journal:
US and Iraqi forces continue to strike at the Mahdi Army in Baghdad despite the agreement reached between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army late Friday. Seventeen Mahdi Army fighters were killed in northeastern Baghdad over the past 24 hours.
In a briefing today, Brigadier General James Milano, the Deputy Commanding General for Multinational Division Baghdad, said that the American-built wall dividing Sadr City is now 80 percent complete (see map).
In the tentative cease-fire agreement, brokered by the Iranian government, political party representatives acting on behalf of Iraq’s Green Zone Government (GZG) headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accepted 14 points laid out by Moqtada al-Sadr’s Sadrist movement. Under the agreement, al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia would allow Iraqi (but not American) forces into Sadr City, and promised to halt indirect fire attacks on the Green Zone. Mahdi Army fighters would not disband, and would also be allowed to keep their weapons.
The day after the cease-fire was announced, U.S. attack helicopters conducted what was described as a “heavy bombardment” of Mahdi Army positions in Sadr City.
On Sunday, a GZG armored column tried to enter Sadr City but immediately ran into a Mahdi Army ambush. Three improvised explosive devices wounded several soldiers, including a battalion commander. If the cease-fire takes effect, the GZG hopes to deliver aid and food to the besieged residents.
Previous One Utah posts:
Helen Thomas on Sadr City: ‘Why are we bombing these people?’ (May 7, 2008)
Sadr City and The Folly of Fixed Fortifications (May 5, 2008)
Sadr City: Why are we doing this? (April 30, 2008)
Winning Hearts and Minds in Iraq - Not! (April 27, 2008)
Al-Sadr: ‘I Am Giving The Last Warning’ April 19, 2008)
Iraq: Staring Into the Abyss (March 27, 2008)
Mahdi Army Cease Fire Expires Saturday (February 20, 2008)
The Walls of Baghdad: ‘We feel like prisoners in our own country’ (December 11, 2007)
[NOTE: I check the Utah Bloghive daily, and it's been almost a month since any of the right-leaning blogs have posted anything at all about Iraq or Afghanistan.]
UPDATE: Cease-Fire Fails To Pacify Sadr City
