Year: 2004
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Rebel in Najaf Sends Messages of Conciliation
August 19, 2004 NY Times By JOHN F. BURNS BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 18 – Displaying the brinkmanship that has made him one of the United States’ most powerful adversaries in Iraq, the rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr sent last-minute messages of conciliation on Wednesday that appeared to have staved off an imminent assault on his fortress…
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8-Day Battle for Najaf: From Attack to Stalemate
August 18, 2004 By ALEX BERENSON and JOHN F. BURNS NAJAF, Iraq, Aug. 17 – Just five days after they arrived here to take over from Army units that had encircled Najaf since an earlier confrontation in the spring, new Marine commanders decided to smash guerrillas loyal to the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. Acting…
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Iraqi Conference on Election Plan Sinks Into Chaos
By JOHN F. BURNS Tuesday 17th August 2004 BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 15 – A conference of more than 1,100 Iraqis chosen to take the country a crucial step further toward constitutional democracy convened in Baghdad on Sunday under siege-like conditions, only to be thrown into disorder by delegates staging angry protests against the American-led military…
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Taken at Gunpoint, U.S. Journalist and His Interpreter Are Missing in Iraq
August 17, 2004 By JOHN F. BURNS BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 16 – Micah Garen, an American journalist who was investigating the looting of ancient artifacts in Iraq, was missing along with his Iraqi interpreter on Monday after the two were led at gunpoint on Friday from a shop in the southern city of Nasiriya, according…
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Talks Fall Apart for Shiite Rebels and Iraq Leaders
August 14, 2004 By Alex Berenson and John F. Burns NAJAF, Iraq — Truce talks between Iraq’s interim government and Moktada al-Sadr’s rebels collapsed Saturday, prompting American commanders to prepare new battle plans for breaking Mr. Sadr’s grip on this holy city and the Imam Ali mosque, the Middle East’s most sacred Shiite shrine. “I…