corrente

Well, I suppose we could besiege the city and starve the inhabitants....

As U.S. troops await orders to enter this Islamic holy city, militant Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr and his militia are strengthening their control here, stockpiling weapons, seizing key religious sites and arresting or detaining those who challenge him.

In the last two weeks, Sadr's followers — many rushing here from Baghdad, Fallouja and other areas of Iraq — have fortified their positions in the city and the neighboring town of Kufa, including at Najaf's gold-domed shrine of Imam Ali, one of the most revered mosques in the world.

Sadr's forces have evicted more than 100 rival Shiite clerics and shrine employees, replacing them with their own armed militiamen, who roam the rooftops and courtyards of the shrine with rifles and rocket-propelled-grenade launchers hung over their shoulders.

Local police officers spoke of their inability to stop the militants, who this month ransacked several police stations, taking guns and vehicles.

"This is all they left us to sit on," said one police officer, sitting on a wobbly, three-legged chair outside the main Najaf police headquarters.

Police officers say they have reached an unspoken agreement with members of the Al Mahdi army, Sadr's militia, to stay out of each other's way.

"We have kept quiet during this crisis," said Fadil Sami, 30, an officer. "With whom are we going to fight? We are all sons of the same society. We don't want any kind of friction with the Al Mahdi army."

"The situation is so bad," said one fabric salesman who also did not want to be identified. "Sadr is following the example of Saddam Hussein. They are two faces of the same coin."
(via LA Times)

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...