Tension, talks at a holy city
BAGHDAD -- More than 2,500 US troops moved to the outskirts of Najaf yesterday to face down a Shi'ite Muslim cleric and his militia, as Iraqi religious and political leaders searched for a compromise to head off a possible confrontation in the most sacred Shi'ite city.
In Washington, the State Department said four unidentified bodies had been found near Fallujah and added that US officials were in contact with the families of seven American contractors who disappeared last week. An official said the bodies had been mutilated, but it was unclear whether the damage occurred when the victims were killed or afterward. On March 31, a crowd mutilated the bodies of at least two of four slain US security contractors, prompting the current US assault on Fallujah.
US officials in Baghdad said that as many as 40 hostages from 12 countries are being held in Iraq, and the United nations yesterday ruled out returning to the country anytime soon because of the increasing threat to security there.
Iraqi leaders -- ranging from sons of senior Shi'ite clerics to members of Iraq's Governing Council -- sought to broker a deal between the occupation authority and Moqtada al-Sadr, supporters have been in armed revolt against US-led forces for the past 10 days.
The military force outside Najaf, which is larger than the Marine contingent battling in Fallujah in the country's worst fighting -- was engaged in "preparatory operations" last night, said Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, a military spokesman in Baghdad. He said US troops were ready for "the full spectrum" of activities, from "full combat operations . . . to humanitarian activities," but suggested the United States would give negotiations a chance before the military moved in.
Sadr is holed up in his office adjacent to one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines in Najaf, a city 90 miles south of Baghdad. US military officials declared last week that they would capture or kill him and destroy his Army of the Mahdi militia.
He declared that he was prepared for martyrdom and called on followers to keep fighting even if he is killed.
"I fear only God. I am ready to sacrifice my blood for this country," he told Lebanon's Al Manar television station.
Tensions flared yesterday afternoon when US troops detained a Sadr aide, Hazim al-A'araji, for several hours in Baghdad, then released him, saying he posed "no imminent threat." It was the April 4 arrest of another aide, Mustafa Yacoubi, on murder charges that helped spark the current wave of clashes between Sadr's supporters and occupation troops in Baghdad and other cities.
The suspenseful situation unfolded yesterday against a backdrop of security threats that began last week, when the combination of Sadr's revolt and aggressive military operations in Fallujah nearly tripled the daily incidence of attacks on US forces, military officials said.
The sustained American assault in Fallujah began a week ago after Iraqi fighters there ambushed and killed four US contractors and then mutilated at least two of the bodies. The discovery of four more bodies yesterday came a day after American authorities disclosed that seven more contractor employees had disappeared Friday after their convoy was ambushed in a fiery attack on the highway from Baghdad to Fallujah.
Still, US spokesmen said yesterday the country was calming down.
But for much of the past week, travel on key roads in and out of Baghdad has ranged from dangerous to nearly impossible because of attacks on military and civilian vehicles; the road to Baghdad International Airport is frequently closed. Kidnappings have reached a level that prompted France and Russia yesterday to recommend that their citizens leave Iraq.
And yesterday, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said the current violence would prevent a large-scale return of United Nations staff to Iraq.
"For the foreseeable future, insecurity is going to be a major constraint for us. And so I cannot say right now that I am going to be sending in a large UN team," Annan said.
His announcement threw further into doubt US plans for a smooth handoff of power to Iraqis June 30; under current plans, elections are to be held no later than next January. US officials have been relying on the United Nations as a neutral party to help draft election law.
And US officials were counting on UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who has been in Iraq for the past nine days, to broker the selection of an interim government to take over June 30 that would be accepted by a wide swath of the population -- a mission disrupted by the current violence.
"Of course, given the deteriorating situation and the violence on the ground, even that task has been rather difficult," Annan said, referring to Brahimi's series of meetings with regional leaders in Iraq, which has coincided with the recent disturbances.
The Bush administration apparently viewed the situation as grave enough to devote the major portion of the president's prime-time news conference last night to an effort to reassure Americans about plans to hand over sovereignty to Iraq amid mounting US casualties there.
In the first 13 days of April, at least 83 US troops were killed and 560 wounded in Iraq, a Pentagon official said. About 880 Iraqis have been killed, according to an Associated Press tally of reports from hospital officials, the US military, and Iraqi police.
The latest American death was a Marine killed in a mortar attack near Fallujah, and a soldier killed in a roadside bomb attack on the convoy headed to Najaf.
Outside the city, an American MH-53 Pave Low helicopter -- used to ferry special operations soldiers and large enough to carry 38 troops plus a crew of six -- was hit by ground fire early yesterday, wounding three crew members.
The FBI is investigating the kidnappings, and US intelligence officials are trying to learn more about the previously unknown groups claiming responsibility, occupation authority spokesman Dan Senor said yesterday.
Even some soldiers of the US-led military coalition have been spooked by the recent violence, it appears. About 10 Bulgarian soldiers based in Karbala have asked to go home, and on Monday the parents of some of those troops appealed to the country's president to pull 450 Bulgarian troops out of the southern city.
As US forces cordoned off Najaf, Kimmitt sought to reassure Iraqis that "the target is not Najaf" but rather Sadr and his private militia, one of many that operate illegally throughout the country but the first to mount a widespread challenge to US authority.
"We will get the forces to the place, at the time when it is necessary, to go after him and his militia to end this violence -- it is that simple," Kimmitt said. "We will do what is necessary -- but we will only do what is necessary."
An Iraqi judge has issued a warrant for Sadr's arrest in the murder of a moderate Shi'ite cleric in Najaf last year; his supporters deny he was involved, and the timing of the warrant's announcement, after Sadr launched his revolt, has been widely criticized by Iraqis.
The meeting with the clerics' representatives occurred Monday night as Sadr's men abandoned police stations and government buildings they had occupied in Najaf and nearby Kufa.
A delegation including the son of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most respected spiritual leader, told Reuters that Sadr indicated he would disband his militia if asked to do so by religious leaders. It was unclear whether such a formal request had been made.
Members of the US-appointed Governing Council have suggested giving Sadr an amnesty in return for laying down arms. Yesterday, US spokesman Senor said US officials "respect and appreciate" efforts to minimize bloodshed, but insisted: "The rule of law must prevail in Iraq; there is no role for illegal militias and illegal mobs and mob violence."
Yesterday, as Sadr's aide A'araji returned to an office in Baghdad after his brief detention, a raucous crowd of Mahdi fighters gave a hint of how they would react to the arrest of Sadr. Hundreds had awaited word of A'araji's fate all afternoon, and hoisted him on their shoulders.
"God curse them from now until the end of time," he told them, referring to US troops in Iraq.
Globe correspondents Joe Lauria at the United Nations and Sa'ad al-Izzi in Baghdad contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was also used. Anne Barnard can be reached at abarnard@globe.com
