Iraqi marchers break through US roadblocks in bid to relieve rebel bastion

by Kamal Taha

ATTENTION - RECASTS, UPDATES ///

BAGHDAD, April 8 (AFP) - Thousands of Iraqi sympathisers, both
Sunni and Shiite Muslim, forced their way through US military
roadblocks Thursday in a bid to bring aid from the capital to the
besieged Sunni rebel bastion of Fallujah.
Troops in armoured vehicles attempted to stop the convoy of cars and pedestrians from reaching the western town where US marines have met ferocious resistance in a two-day-old offensive against the
insurgents.
But the US contingents were overwhelmed as residents of villages west of the capital came to the convoy's assistance, hurling insults and stones at the beleaguered troops.
Some 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Baghdad, a US patrol was
attacked just moments before the Iraqi marchers arrived, and armed
insurgents could be seen dancing around on two blazing military
vehicles.
Two US Humvees attempted to stop the marchers but were forced to drive off as residents joined the marchers, shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greater).
US troops armed with machine guns and backed up by armour again
blocked the highway further west, but were forced to let the Iraqis
past as they came under a hail of stones.
The cross-community demonstration of support for Fallujah had
been organized by Baghdad clerics both Sunni and Shiite amid reports
that the death toll in the town had reached 105 since Tuesday
evening.
The rare display of sectarian unity came after Shiite radicals
launched an uprising in cities across central and southern Iraq,
shattering a year of relative tolerance of the US-led occupation
from the country's majority community.
"No Sunnis, no Shiites, yes for Islamic unity," the marchers
chanted. "We are Sunni and Shiite brothers and will never sell our
country."
The marchers set off from the Um al-Qora mosque in west Baghdad
where wellwishers donated food, drinks and medicine.
They carried portaits of Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr, as
well as pictures of Sunni Islamist icon, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the
spiritual leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement who was
assassinated in an Israeli air raid last month.
"Our families in Fallujah, remember that our dead go to heaven
and theirs to hell," read a banner held aloft by the crowd.
Mosque imam Sheikh Ahmad Abdel Ghafur al-Samarrai said the
US-led coalition had given the Iraqi Red Crescent permission to
organize a relief convoy but made no secret of his hostility to the
US offensive in Fallujah.
"The Iraqi Red Crescent got permission from the coalition,
following negotiations over one day and one night to bring these
supplies into the city," Samarrai said.
"Baghdad residents decided to send initially 90 cars with food
and medicines to Fallujah families," he told AFP.
"We want to express solidarity with our brothers who are being
bombed by warplanes and tanks.
"It is a form of jihad (holy war) which can also come in the
form of demonstrations, donations and fighting. The people who are
occupied have the right to fight occupation, whatever the means they
use."
The Sunni cleric called on US commanders to stop the bloody
offensive they launched in Fallujah on tuesday after four US
civilian contractors were killed in the town and two of their bodies
mutilated.
"This only brings hatred and enmity," Samarrai said of the US
assault.
"They killed the elderly praying at the mosques, as well as
women and children. This is indiscriminate killing."
The cleric said he opposed the way the bodies of the American
contractors had been treated but insisted that what the US marines
were now doing in Fallujah was no better. They "are doing the same
by mutilating the residential neighborhoods," he said.
bur-nay/kir
AFP
081024 GMT APR 04

Just imagine the kind of heartwarming coverage this would have gotten pre-invasion; if they'd gotten thru a ring-fence of Saddam's troops!!

"No Sunnis, no Shiites, yes for Islamic unity" - yikes

Is no one responding to this because it's so poorly-formatted? I think it's the most extraordinary news of the day. Here's a clearer version:

Iraqi marchers break through US roadblocks in bid to relieve rebel bastion

by Kamal Taha

BAGHDAD, April 8 (AFP) - Thousands of Iraqi sympathisers, both Sunni and Shiite Muslim, forced their way through US military roadblocks Thursday in a bid to bring aid from the capital to the besieged Sunni rebel bastion of Fallujah.

Troops in armoured vehicles attempted to stop the convoy of cars and pedestrians from reaching the western town where US marines have met ferocious resistance in a two-day-old offensive against the insurgents.

But the US contingents were overwhelmed as residents of villages west of the capital came to the convoy's assistance, hurling insults and stones at the beleaguered troops.

Some 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Baghdad, a US patrol was attacked just moments before the Iraqi marchers arrived, and armed insurgents could be seen dancing around on two blazing military vehicles.

Two US Humvees attempted to stop the marchers but were forced to drive off as residents joined the marchers, shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greater).

US troops armed with machine guns and backed up by armour again blocked the highway further west, but were forced to let the Iraqis past as they came under a hail of stones.
The cross-community demonstration of support for Fallujah had been organized by Baghdad clerics both Sunni and Shiite amid reports that the death toll in the town had reached 105 since Tuesday evening.

The rare display of sectarian unity came after Shiite radicals launched an uprising in cities across central and southern Iraq, shattering a year of relative tolerance of the US-led occupation from the country's majority community.

"No Sunnis, no Shiites, yes for Islamic unity," the marchers chanted. "We are Sunni and Shiite brothers and will never sell our country."

The marchers set off from the Um al-Qora mosque in west Baghdad where wellwishers donated food, drinks and medicine.

They carried portaits of Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr, as well as pictures of Sunni Islamist icon, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the spiritual leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement who was assassinated in an Israeli air raid last month.

"Our families in Fallujah, remember that our dead go to heaven and theirs to hell," read a banner held aloft by the crowd.

Mosque imam Sheikh Ahmad Abdel Ghafur al-Samarrai said the US-led coalition had given the Iraqi Red Crescent permission to organize a relief convoy but made no secret of his hostility to the US offensive in Fallujah.

"The Iraqi Red Crescent got permission from the coalition, following negotiations over one day and one night to bring these supplies into the city," Samarrai said.

"Baghdad residents decided to send initially 90 cars with food and medicines to Fallujah families," he told AFP.

"We want to express solidarity with our brothers who are being bombed by warplanes and tanks.

"It is a form of jihad (holy war) which can also come in the form of demonstrations, donations and fighting. The people who are occupied have the right to fight occupation, whatever the means they use."

The Sunni cleric called on US commanders to stop the bloody offensive they launched in Fallujah on tuesday after four US civilian contractors were killed in the town and two of their bodies mutilated.

"This only brings hatred and enmity," Samarrai said of the US assault.

"They killed the elderly praying at the mosques, as well as women and children. This is indiscriminate killing."

The cleric said he opposed the way the bodies of the American contractors had been treated but insisted that what the US marines were now doing in Fallujah was no better. They "are doing the same by mutilating the residential neighborhoods," he said.

bur-nay/kir
AFP
081024 GMT APR 04

Palestine on the Tigris!

Didn't the Nazis used to specialize in this sort of thing: you kill n of us, we kill 10 x n of you.

Fuck dude, just thinking about this gives me the shivers and I bet it doesn't get covered on ANY channel. There are thousands of Iraqis lining up to donate blood. They obviously hate freedom, though.

They hate their own freedom... apparently. Damned ingrates.

Slightly different version here from AP - "Thousands of Iraqis marched the 30 miles from Baghdad to Fallujah to deliver food and medical supplies to its residents, under nighttime curfew and surrounded by U.S. forces since early Monday morning. A Sunni clerics committee organized the march.

Marchers carrying colorful flags and banners reading, "Sons of the great Fallujah, we are with you on the road of jihad (holy war) and victory" came upon the Marine cordon on the western entrance to the city.

After searching the vehicles for weapons, the Marines allowed two ambulances full of medical supplies, two minibuses carrying vegetables and other food and a dozen cars with Sunni clerics and officials to enter the city."

AFP's still sticking with "thousands" of stone-throwing protestors, though.

- breaking through the roadblock, i mean. Not just a few cars.