More than 1,200 militiamen surrender in Najaf

[Subversive Pessimist]

More than 1,200 militiamen surrender in Najaf (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040806/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_unrest_shiites&cid=1514&ncid=1473)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38241000/jpg/_38241741_woman-iraqitv-300.jpg
sexy freedom fighter

BAGHDAD (AFP) - More than 1,200 militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr surrendered following fierce clashes with US and Iraqi forces in Najaf, the police general directorate said.


"Over 1,200 criminals have surrendered to Iraqi forces," it said in a statement, adding that the holy city of Najaf had been "secured."


It said most of the captured militiamen were criminals who were released from Iraqi prisons by ousted president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) before last year's US-led invasion.


The statement accused Sadr's Mehdi Army of wanting to "destablise the country," and vowed "this operation will continue until this illegal and cruel violence has been quelled."


No one in Sadr's Najaf office was immediately available for comment on the statement.


The US military said Friday that 300 militiamen were killed in Najaf since Thursday's fighting, while the province's coalition-appointed governor Adnan al-Zorfi said the number was as high as 400.


The military said also three US soldiers were killed and 12 wounded.


But Sadr's spokesman Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani said only nine militiamen were killed in fighting and 20 wounded.

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Should we believe this?

[Sabocat]

Seeing as the most likely punishment that they would get would be death, I find it hard to believe that 1200 would just surrender. I also don't see anything from any of the other news sources.

Allawi recently just re-instituted the death penalty, and demonstrated his disdain for the insurgents by supposedly executing 6 against the wall. I'm sure word of that has made it's way around Iraq.

[Guerrilla22]

It seems the US government isn't telling the whole story here. why would 1200 fighters just give up? Undoubtadely they were offered cash and amensty (or some sort of soft sentence) to hand over their arms and surrender, they didn't just give up as this article would have you believe.

[Reuben]

well personall i dont think you should expect these these reactionary fuckwits to be any kind of heroes

[BOZG]

No one does Reuben but the circumstances do seem a little odd. It's also very convenient that they all just happen to be ex-criminals.

[Guest1]

While I agree with reuben that the Iraqi militias have been glorified to a sickening level by the left in some cases, I don't think that that many, if any, militia men would surrender.

When it comes to Iraq though, it is the unions we should be looking up to, they are fighting a tough battle to revive the labour movement in Iraq. The US military has ransacked headquarters and arrested leaders on several occasions, only to release them a day later. Yet, the left remains quiet about it, too busy cheering a few fuckers and god-suckers who will plunge the country into Iranian style theocracy, minus the sham elections.

"But CyM, at least they're fighting America!" :rolleyes:

The real insurgency there is in the factories.

[antieverything]

You are all forgetting that there has been lots of talk of giving amnesty to insurgents if they give up their arms.

[Severian]

If 1,200 prisoners were in fact rounded up, it's unlikely that they were all combatants. It's long been the practice of occupation forces in Iraq to arrest people almost at random. Also to arrest family members of suspected combatants as hostages.

It's also interesting to see the U.S. military resurrecting the practice of the "body count". Since Vietnam typically they have refused to release estimates of enemy casualties...or civilian casualties either. Partly because such estimates were often wildly inaccurate. Perhaps they're unable to come up with any other definition of victory in this situation?

I agree with Che y Marijuana that the Iraqi labor movement and unemployed groups are ultimately more significant; there's just less good information readily available on it. This isn't just the fault of the left though; there's a lot less on it in the big-business media and it's a dangerous environment to send one's own observers into.

Here's an old thread where I posted some info about the state of workers' organizations in Iraq (http://www.che-lives.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24772&hl=iraq+workers)