Sadr stokes anti-U.S. fervor

Tribune news services
BAGHDAD -- Calling the United States the "great evil," powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr on Sunday ordered his militiamen to redouble their effort to oppose American troops and argued that Iraq's army and police force should join him in defeating "your archenemy."

The cleric's verbal assault came as the U.S. military announced that 10 American soldiers were killed over the weekend, including six Sunday in attacks north and south of Baghdad. At least 69 Iraqis also were killed or found dead across Iraq.

Sadr's statement did not explicitly call for an armed struggle against the Americans, but it represented his most forceful condemnation of the U.S.-led occupation since he went underground after the start of an intensified security crackdown in Baghdad nearly two months ago.

"You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don't walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy," his statement said.

Sadr urged his followers not to attack fellow Iraqis but to turn their efforts on American forces.

"God has ordered you to be patient in front of your enemy, and unify your efforts against them -- not against the sons of Iraq," the statement said.

Thousands of Iraqis flowed to the southern holy city of Najaf, heeding Sadr's command to stage a massive anti-U.S. protest Monday, the fourth anniversary of the fall of former dictator Saddam Hussein. Hundreds of buses and cars clogged the road to Najaf on Sunday, as thousands of his supporters waved Iraqi flags and shouted religious and anti-American slogans.

"No, no, no, to America ... Moqtada, yes, yes, yes," they chanted as Iraqi television crews followed them.

Sheik Abdul Razaq al-Nadawi, a Sadr spokesman in Najaf, said clashes erupted in Simawa province, south of Baghdad, between Mahdi Army militiamen and police, who apparently were trying to stop them from heading to Najaf. He said five militiamen were killed after protesters attacked the police with bricks and stones. The report could not be verified.

The tensions followed two days of fierce battles pitting U.S. and Iraqi forces against al-Mahdi Army militiamen in Diwaniyah. As U.S. combat aircraft launched air strikes, house-to-house clashes erupted. A curfew was still being enforced Sunday in the city and U.S. forces patrolled the streets, said Hamid Jiati, a Diwaniyah health department official.

Sadr is engaged in an uneasy cooperation with U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad, particularly in his stronghold of Sadr City. He has ordered his fighters to stand down as U.S. troops patrol and conduct security sweeps and to avoid being provoked into battle.

It is unclear whether Sadr ordered the Diwaniyah clashes, rogue elements of the Mahdi Army rose up or individual militiamen were defending their homes.

"Up until now, we have not made any decision to clash against the American or the Iraqi forces," Sheik Salah al-Ubaidi, a close aide to Sadr, said from Najaf.

Sadr's aides say the cleric is in Iraq, and al-Ubaidi added, "There is a 65 percent possibility that Moqtada Sadr will come to the demonstration." U.S. military officials have said Sadr is in Iran.

Regardless of whether Sadr attends Monday's protests, "the demonstrators will burn the American flag and then will rise up the Iraqi flag as part of the ceremony," al-Ubaidi said.

Among the six U.S. casualties Sunday, three soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack during a patrol south of Baghdad, one was killed in a separate attack south of the capital and two died of wounds from combat operations in Diyala province and Salahaddin province, the military said.

An explosion near a military vehicle Saturday in Diyala province killed four soldiers, the military said.

Also Sunday, in the southern city of Mahmoudiya, a car bombing killed 17 Iraqis and wounded 26 others. The U.S. military has acknowledged that the security crackdown in Baghdad might increase attacks outside the capital.

"You have the enemy trying to show it is still strong and able to move and stir fear in the population," military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said.