From: Adam <""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the field.near
the bridge">

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=6f8b4e5f-0347-47a1-9e46-7
b745ddced6b&k=43183

"Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sharply criticized a U.S.-Iraqi attack
Monday on a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad, breaking with his
American partners on security tactics as the U.S. launches a major
operation to secure the capital.

More than 30 people were killed or found dead Monday, including 10
paramilitary commandos who died when a suicide driver detonated a truck at
the regional headquarters of the Shiite-led Interior Ministry police in a
mostly Sunni city north of the capital.

Al-Maliki's criticism followed a pre-dawn air and ground attack Monday on
an area of Sadr City, stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
and his Mahdi Army militia.

Police said three people, including a woman and a child, were killed in the
raid, which the U.S. command said was aimed at "individuals involved
in punishment and torture cell activities."

One U.S. soldier was wounded, the U.S. said. Col. Hassan Chaloub, police
chief of Sadr City, said Shiite militiamen stopped firing after receiving
instructions from militia commanders.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, said he was "very angered and pained" by the
operation, warning that it could undermine his efforts toward national
reconciliation.

"Reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate
the rights of citizens this way," al-Maliki said in a statement on
government television. "This operation used weapons that are
unreasonable to detain someone, like using planes."

He apologized to the Iraqi people for the operation and said "this
won't happen again." "

"Following the Sadr City attack, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, met
with the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey Jr., to discuss
security operations in Baghdad. Talabani said he told Casey that "it
is in no one's interest to have a confrontation" with al-Sadr's
movement."

So much for taking on the Iraqi hezbollah then....

Nice going Israel.

Adam

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