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Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka ęape-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basin Ozeti

motivated to take their country back. I’ve not been deluded into thinking that we came here to free the Iraąis. That is indeed the icing on the cake, but I came here to prevent the still active “grave and gathering threat” from congealing into something we wouldrit be able to stop.

Weapons of mass destruction or no, I’m glad that we ended the dictatorship

of Saddam Hussein. His attempt to as* sassinate George H.W. Bush, his use of Chemical weapons on his own people and his invasion of a neighboring country are just a few of the other reasons I believe we should have acted sooner. He eventually would have had the means to cause America great harm — no doubt in my mind.

The pre-emptive doctrine of the current administration will con-tinue to be debated long after I*m gone, but one fact stands for itself: America has not been hit with another catastrophic attack sińce Sept. 11,2001.1 firmly believe that our actions in Af-ghanistan and Iraq are major reasons that we’ve had it so good at home. Build-ing a “fortress America” is not only im-ractical, it’s impossible. Prudent omeland security measures are vital, to be surę, but attacking the source of the threat remains essential.

Now we are on the verge of victory or defeat in Iraq. Success depends not only on battlefield superiority, but also on the trust and confidence of the American people. Pve read some articles re-cently that cali for cutting back our mil- • itary presence in Iraq and moving our troops to the peripheries of most cities. Such advice is well-intentioned but wrong — it would soon lead to a total withdrawaL Our goal needs to be a safe Iraq, free of militias and terrorists; if we simply puli back and run, then the region will pose an even greater threat than it did before the invasion. I also fear if we do not win this battle here and now, my 7-year-old son might find him-self here in 10 or 11 years, fighting the same enemies and their sons.

When critics of the war say their ad-vocacy is on behalf of those of us risk-ing our lives here, it’s a type of false pa-triotism. I believe that when Americans say they “support our troops,” it should include supporting our mission, not just sending us care packages. They dotft have to believe in the cause as I do; but they should not denigrate it. That only aids the enemy in defeating us strategically.

The filmmaker Michael Moore re-cently asked the Fox News commenta-tor Bill 0’Reilly if he would sacrifice his son for Falluja. A clever rhetorical derice, but it’s the wrong question: This war is about Des Moines, Iowa, not Falluja. Iraq is breeding and attracting mil-itants who are all eager to grab box Cut-ters, dirty bombs, suicide vests or bio-logical weapons, and then come fight us in Chicago, Santa Monica or Long Is-land. Falluja, in fact, was very close to becoming a city our forces could have controlled, and then given new schools and sewers and hospitals, before we pulled back in the spring. Now, essen-tially ignored, it has become a Taliban-like State of Islamie eztremisra, a terror-ist safe haven. We must not let the same fate befall Najaf or Ramadi or the rest of Iraq.

No, I would not sacrifice myself, my parents would not sacrifice me, and President George W. Bush would not sacrifice a single Marinę or soldier simply for Falluja. Rather, that symbolic city is but one step toward a free and democratic Iraq, which is one step closer to a morę safe and secure America.

I miss my family, my friends and my country, but right now there is nowhere else I’d rather be. I am a U.S. Marinę.

Glen G. Butler is a major in the Marines.

Marines and militia clash at shrine

International Herald Tribune

Tuesday, August 24,2004

have their own security force,” said • Monday to discuss the situation in Na-Sheik Ahmed al-Sheibani, also a Mahdi jaf. (Reuters. AP)

From news reports

NAJAF, lraq: U.S. marines and Shiite militiamen loyal to the rebel elerie Moktada al-Sadr fought fierce battles around the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf on Monday in some of the heaviest fighting sińce the 20-day-old rebellion erupted.

Late in the day, a U.S. military air-craft and ground artillery madę several strikes on suspected Shiite militant po-sitions in the city, witnesses said. At least 12 blasts were heard as an AC-130 piane was heard circling above.

Most of the strikes appeared concen-trated on rebel positions in the heart of Najaf and on an ancient cemetery where militants are dug in.

Earlier, explosions rocked the area near the shrine, where the Mahdi Army fighters have holed up in defiance of the U.S.-backed interim govemment. Gun-fire echoed through the alleyways near the shrine while U.S. tanks kept up their encirclement around the city’s heart.

A U.S. marinę major, Jay Antonelli, said militants in a parking garage 400 meters, or 1,300 feet, from the shrine’s outer wali fired rocket-propelled gren-ades and sniper rifles at U.S. troops, who responded with artillery and mortars.

Speaking in Baghdad, Antonelli said U.S. troops were trying to secure the city, but were being fired at from the

U.S. aireraft strike at rebel cleric’s forces

shrine compound and other areas. “We’re not doing any offensive opera-tions,” he said. “This is all in response to them.”

Shrapnel fell in the courtyard of the gold-domed mosque, whose outer walls have already been slightly damaged in fighting that has killed hundreds and helped drive oil prices to record highs.

Sadr’s whereabouts are unknown. The police in Najaf said they had infor-mation that the elerie had fled to Su-laimaniya, in Kurdish northem Iraq. But Sadr’s aides and local government offi-cials in Sulaimaniya denied the report.

The fighting resumed ovemight after a weekend of fruitless talks between Sadris aides and religious authorities over a plan to hand over the keys of the shrine to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most respected Shiite elerie.

In an apparent relaxation of Sadr’s demand that the Mahdi Army guard the mosque even after it is handed over, a top aide to Sadr said Shiite authorities would be responsible.

“The religious establishment will be in charge of security and they should

militia commander.

Speaking to reporters in the mosque, Sheibani said the cleric’s fighters would become “normal citizens” if U.S. forces retumed to their bases and Najaf be-came stable.

Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib told Al Arabiya television on Monday: “The govemment’s stand has been elear from the beginning: withdrawal from Najaf or from the holy shrine, disbanding of militias, and there is a chance to partic-ipate in Iraqi political life.”

Asked how long the government would wait, he said: “There are limits, and I believe time is running out. It could be days or hours; these decisions are taken according to developments.” Sistani, who lives in Najaf, is in London recovering from surgery. An aide said he stood by his offer to mediate the crisis by receiving the keys to the shrine.

The rebellion has triggered violence in seven other Southern and central cities, including Baghdad. Hospital offi-cials said four Iraqis were killed in fighting in Baghdad’s Shiite slum dis-tnet of Sadr City on Monday.

A United Nations spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, met with the interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, on