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Journalism of Courage
The negotiated peace between the US forces and the firebrand Shia leader, Muqtada Sadr, in place in the Shia holy city of Najaf in Iraq had generally held since the fighting of April-May last year, with sporadic and minor incidents of violence. But a sudden shift in US strategy saw the army replaced with marines with armed patrols intruding into the city all the way to Sadr8217;s home. A major offensive was apparently ordered by the Interim Government of Iyad Allawi with Iraqi and US forces with a siege of the city ten days ago. And that started a spiral of violence with the American forces using massive firepower 8212; including tanks, helicopter gunships and jets fighters 8212; against the lightly-armed militia called the Mehdi Army of Muqtada Sadr, leaving nearly 400 Iraqis dead in two days of fighting.
The US-Iraqi government offensive in Najaf breaking the ceasefire in place since May has probably been triggered by a few factors. They were apparently losing control over cities adopting what has come to be known as the 8220;Fallujah Model8221; following US failure to militarily control the Sunni resistance town west of Baghdad months ago in spite of using massive firepower. It had handed over control of the town to local forces; and city after city has been refusing to allow US presence in the streets and establishing their own local government to a degree that Iyad Allawi had begun to be referred to as the mayor of Baghdad. The Najaf offensive possibly sought to stem that slide into what8217;s been termed as the new sovereign 8220;city-states8221; pattern and stop it from spreading to Shia cities. Najaf was also seen as the best chance for the US and the Baghdad regime for quick success against Sadr8217;s militia which has little battle experience.
