The invasion of Iraq last year was christened "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in an attempt to deflect from the utterly predatory and criminal character of US ambitions in the Middle East. Twelve months later, as American troops prepare to close in on the Shiite youth who have taken up arms against them in Baghdad and other cities, and marines prepare reprisals against the city of Fallujah, a more apt name would be "Operation Iraqi Bloodbath."

As the situation stood on Monday night, an arrest warrant has been issued by the US Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) against the religious leader of the Shiite uprising, 31-year-old cleric Moqtada Sadr. Along with many of his most senior associates, he has been accused of responsibility for the killing of a Shiite cleric in April 2003. No evidence has been provided and the allegation has been repeatedly denied.

Sadr is barricaded inside the main mosque in the city of Kufa. He has issued a statement that he will not leave until the US occupation authority "guarantees" when foreign forces will leave Iraq and the lifting of the ban on his newspaper Al Hawza. Thousands of his young supporters, both armed and unarmed, are occupying the mosque's courtyard and surrounding area to prevent any attempt by the American military to seize him.

In a direct threat against the cleric's life, US General Mark Kimmett told the press yesterday: "Whether Sadr decides to come peacefully, or whether he decides to come not peacefully—that choice is the choice of Mister Moqtada Sadr." Kimmitt declared: "Individuals who create violence, who incite violence... will be hunted down and captured or killed. It's that simple."

A member of Sadr's "Mehdi Army" militia told Agence France Presse (AFP) in Kufa: "We are ready to sacrifice our lives for our leader Moqtada if the coalition troops touch a single strand of his hair."

The 500,000 citizens of Fallujah, the Sunni Muslim centre where four American mercenaries were killed and paraded through the streets last week, are waiting for the inevitable re-entry of US troops into the city. The American military has sealed off the roads with earth barricades and imposed a dawn to dusk curfew. Al Jazeera reported that its journalists have been blocked from entering the city. Helicopters and jet fighters are stalking the sky above.

A force of 1,200 marines and hundreds of Iraqi Civil Defence Corp (ICDC) troops are "poised" to go in, according to a marine spokesman Lieutenant James Vanzant. The US troops reportedly have lists of addresses they allege are the homes of resistance fighters, or of youth who were involved in parading the mercenaries' corpses. Leaflets were distributed throughout the city yesterday warning people to stay inside their homes.

Air strikes were called in Sunday night against a residential area the American military claimed was being used as a mortar base. Five houses were damaged, five civilians killed and a number of others injured. One marine was reportedly killed and several wounded on the fringes of the city by mortar attacks.

A marine colonel told the Los Angeles Times on the weekend: "Fallujah is a barrier on the highway to progress. We're going to eliminate the barrier without damaging the highway."

full story:
www.wsws.org/articles/2004/apr2004/iraq-a06.shtml