GUNS-​​FOR-​​HIRE REPELLED NAJAF ATTACK

“An attack by hun­dreds of Iraqi mili­tia mem­bers on the U.S. government’s head­quar­ters in Najaf on Sunday was repulsed not by the U.S. mil­i­tary,” the Washington Post reports, “but by eight com­man­dos from a pri­vate secu­rity firm.
“Before U.S. rein­force­ments could arrive, the firm, Blackwater Security Consulting, sent in its own heli­copters amid an intense fire­fight to resup­ply its com­man­dos with ammu­ni­tion and to ferry out a wounded Marine, sources said.“
This is the sec­ond time in a week Blackwater has been in the news.
“The four men bru­tally slain Wednesday in Fallujah were also Blackwater employ­ees and were oper­at­ing in the Sunni tri­an­gle area under more haz­ardous con­di­tions — unar­mored cars with no appar­ent backup — than the U.S. mil­i­tary or the CIA per­mit.“
THERE’S MORE: According to the AP, rad­i­cal cleric Muqtada al-​​Sadr has left his mosque in the city of Kufa — where his mil­i­tants have pretty much replaced allied and Iraqi author­i­ties. Those forces appear to have taken over the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf, Juan Cole says. That’s bad news, because the shrine is one of the holi­est places in all of Shi’ite Islam — equiv­a­lent, if I under­stand right, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
There is some good news, how­ever. According to the Washington Post, Baghdad’s Sadr City slum — named after Muqtada’s father — appears to have been re-​​taken by U.S. troops.

April 6th, 2004 | War Update | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.