The attack was part of a U.S.-led military offensive aimed at crushing forces loyal to al-Sadr in their stronghold. The Shiite cleric launched a number of attacks on occupying forces in late March after being provoked by the occupation regime’s closure of a newspaper associated with him. Alongside the military assault, U.S. commanders are seeking to build opposition to al-Sadr among other Shiite Muslim leaders. The aim is to isolate him and pave the way for more decisive military action.

U.S. president George Bush said in his May 8 radio address that recent revelations of torture of Iraqi prisoners by their U.S. captors will not deter Washington from its military offensive.

On May 10, U.S. troops reportedly destroyed al-Sadr’s headquarters in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. U.S. armored vehicles pummeled the walls of the compound, which had been evacuated. During firefights in Sadr City the day before, occupation forces said they killed 19 Iraqis whom they described as militiamen loyal to al-Sadr.

At the same time, hundreds of Mahdi Army fighters launched attacks in the southern cities of Basra and Amara in opposition to patrols by British troops, which occupy that area of the country as part of the U.S.-led coalition. According to media reports, the attacks were an attempt by al-Sadr’s forces to open up new fronts in the conflict to relieve the pressure they face in Najaf and elsewhere.

At least two Iraqis were killed and four British soldiers were wounded during the ensuing clashes in Basra. The city, Iraq’s second largest, is 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. The occupying soldiers forced their way into the Hanaya neighborhood and surrounded al-Sadr’s headquarters, initiating a standoff that lasted several hours, punctuated by at least one gun battle.

Basra’s pro-occupation governor has announced the formation of an Iraq “rapid reaction” force to be used against the Mahdi Army.

The capture of the governor’s office involved “the first deep thrust by U.S. forces into the city since Sadr’s militia all but took control of it a month ago,” reported the May 7 Washington Post. U.S. forces were equipped with tanks, armored vehicles, and Humvees. When the Mahdi Army tried to expel the invaders using rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and rockets, up to 41 Iraqis were killed.

On the day of the Najaf raid, U.S. military officers said they had killed 21 Iraqis in Kufa, where al-Sadr is reportedly based at present. In Karbala, another city in the area, armored cars and rocket-equipped helicopters were used in an assault on an office allegedly providing shelter to Mahdi Army forces.

The Associated Press also reported May 8 that occupation forces had arrested al-Sadr’s “main representative” in the southern city of Nasiriyah, which is patrolled by Italian troops.  
 
Divide and rule in Najaf
U.S. officers in command of the 2,500 troops surrounding Najaf and Kufa say they are holding back from a full-scale assault on al-Sadr’s forces. “We’re not going to go wading into Najaf. We know how sensitive it is,” said Brig Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the deputy director of U.S. military operations in Iraq.

“I think people had the wrong impression we were going to destroy Najaf. This is a place where we want to use the least amount of force,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling.

The U.S. officers are trying to reassure Shiite leaders that they are not planning to relaunch attacks on religious sites, where they claim Mahdi Army fighters are holed up.

After U.S. forces overran the governor’s office in Najaf, the civilian head of U.S. occupation forces, Paul Bremer, appointed Adnan al-Zorfi as the city’s new governor. Al-Zorfi served time in prison under the Saddam Hussein regime, and also took part in the 1991 Shiite uprising against Baghdad following the invasion of Iraq by Washington and its allies.

The BBC said that al-Zorfi “denounced Mr. Sadr and called on the MA [Mahdi Army] to disarm, telling a news conference in Baghdad that Najaf had virtually died as a city.”

A number of Shiite leaders have called on al-Sadr to agree to surrender and to disband the Mahdi Army by May 15. Under the deal he would present himself for trial under U.S. charges that he organized the killing of a pro-occupation Shiite cleric.

In a May 7 address in Kufa, al-Sadr denounced the torture of Iraqi prisoners by the occupying forces. “What sort of freedom and democracy can we expect from you [Americans] when you take such joy in torturing Iraqi prisoners?” he asked. U.S. forces are “doing the same acts done by the small devil Saddam,” he said.

The opposition cleric has targeted not just the occupying forces, but Iraqis accused of collaboration with them. They include laborers who work inside the Green Zone, the area in Baghdad where the occupation authority has its fortified headquarters.

“They threatened the laborers in this neighborhood,” said Hussein Ali, 24, referring to the Mahdi Army. He was speaking after a car bomb exploded at the edge of the Green Zone May 6, killing six Iraqis and one U.S. soldier.

With the costs of the war and occupation continuing to mount, the White House asked Congress for an additional $25 billion for the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan for the year beginning in October. Previously, Bush administration officials had said they would hold off such requests until the end of the year.

Indicating the bipartisan support for the war and occupation, Senate Armed Service Committee member Jack Reed, Democrat from Rhode Island, said that the request was too low, “given the increased tempo of operations as seen in April and the need for the long-term deployment of troops.”  
 
 
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