U.S. troops tighten Najaf noose

NAJAF, Iraq – A day after peace talks collapsed, U.S. troops and the militia led by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resumed fighting Sunday as two American soldiers were killed and a wall about 30 yards from the sacred Imam Ali shrine was damaged.

Fighting picked up essentially where it had left off before the three-day cease-fire in the vast cemetery and in the Old City. U.S. troops moved to tighten a cordon they had set up last week to rein in al-Sadr’s militia.

“The Iraqi government has asked us to squeeze them,” said Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment in Najaf.

One protester reportedly was killed outside the shrine by an explosion Sunday afternoon that broke a hole in a wall near the mosque, witnesses said.

Al-Sadr supporters blamed the attack on U.S. tanks firing from the cemetery. Military officials said it was unlikely that they could have caused the damage.

On the streets of Najaf, citizens braced for renewed fighting. Mortar fire and explosions resounded throughout the day and night.

The Najaf police chief ordered all journalists to leave the city, saying authorities could not guarantee their safety. When some refused to leave, police officers threatened to arrest them.

At a camp just north of Najaf, U.S. military planners met with their Iraqi counterparts, including a general in the new Iraqi army, to discuss ways to give Iraqi security forces a more prominent role.

“I was impressed by the questions they were asking,” said Lt. Col. John Mayer, commander of Marine ground troops in Najaf. “They are absolutely up to the job.”

Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told U.S. officials Saturday night that he wanted Iraqi forces to take the lead role, particularly on sensitive missions, such as attempting to remove al-Sadr’s militia from the shrine.

U.S. officials are waiting for as many as 3,500 Iraqi troops to join them in Najaf, a logistical challenge that could take a week or more to complete.

“I think they’re sending the entire army,” said Lt. Col. Myles Miyamasu, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment.

As a result, U.S. officials delayed a major offensive they had planned for Saturday night.

Bringing in Iraqi troops was the latest in a string of moves to deal with the standoff. Initially, the United States said it was taking orders from the Najaf governor. Last week, military officials said the United States was taking operational control of all security forces in Najaf. Now the United States says it will provide support and backup to the Iraqi army.

“Everything we are doing, we are doing with the Iraqis,” said Maj. Gen. Pete Chiarelli, commander of the 1st Cavalry, during a visit to Najaf on Sunday. “It makes perfect sense, particularly in this situation.”

The standoff with al-Sadr is quickly shaping up to be a litmus test for Allawi’s new government. Already violence has spread from Najaf to other southern Iraqi cities, and the issue was a key point of contention at a political conference Sunday in Baghdad to elect a national assembly.

Putting Iraqis at the forefront may address some of the political sensitivities, but military leaders worry the delay will give al-Sadr’s militia an opportunity to regroup.

“It’s less efficient this way,” said Maj. Doug Ollivant, operations officer of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment.

The delays have been a source of frustration to the troops, particularly after the deaths Sunday evening of the two soldiers. In addition to trying to avoid damaging the mosque, soldiers have watched as several missions were scrapped over the past week due to political sensitivities, to allow for peace talks and now, to await arrival of Iraqi forces.

“It’s hard not to have the capability to fire back,” said Maj. Bob Pizzitola, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment.

The deaths cast a pall over the base Sunday, where soldiers had just begun to relax a little after being told that they would begin playing a support role for the Iraqis. That relative calm was shattered when two Humvees came racing through the camp to deliver the injured men to the medic’s tent.

“Hang in there, man,” one medic shouted as they rushed an unconscious soldier into the camp hospital. A second soldier, who died at the cemetery, was covered with a blanket.

Within minutes, a rescue helicopter landed in the sand to evacuate the wounded soldier to Baghdad. But the chopper departed five minutes later – without a patient – upon receiving word that the soldier had died.

In Baghdad Sunday, another soldier was killed by a roadside bomb.

The deaths bring the total number of U.S. troops killed in Najaf to eight over the past 10 days and 932 in Iraq since the invasion last year.