The battle around Najaf puts paid to the idea that only Sunnis are resisting in Iraq, writes Nermeen Al-Mufti An ordinary day in Baghdad is one in which around 40 civilians lose their lives to acts of violence, whereas on other days the death toll can easily top 100. The media comes up with special names for extraordinary days: "the day of car bombs", "the day of unidentified bodies", etc. Last week the cull abated at around 40 killed in any given day. In one incident, a preparatory school for girls in a dominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Baghdad came under fire and five students were killed. In another, an elementary school in Al-Dawrah was shelled and three students and a teacher died. One teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Ahram Weekly she was thinking of leaving the country after 23 years in her career. "I am afraid of going to my school in Haifa Street," she said. According to a government report, about 400 teachers and 300 students were killed last year. Meanwhile, the parliament has decided to reduce budget allocations for various government branches. Kurdish deputies have walked out of the parliament to protest the government's refusal to set aside a budget for the peshmergas, or Kurdish security forces. Kurdish deputies claim that the peshmergas were "Kurdish troops acting on the orders of the Defence Ministry." The ministry begs to differ. And a top official in the Interior Ministry said that the Kurdish forces were not exactly taking orders from the central government. When the ministry decided that it was time for the Kurdish police chief of Kirkuk to retire, at the legal age of 60, he refused to do so, saying that he had been appointed on order of the northern authorities. Parliament didn't discuss fuel shortages or the cancellation of oil subsidies. But it has endorsed the new security plan. According to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, "the security plan aims to bring security to Baghdad by combating all outlaws, regardless of doctrinal and political affiliations." As thousands of new US troops started arriving in Baghdad, President Bush telephoned Maliki to reiterate his support for the security plan. Nancy Pelosi, the new House of Representatives speaker, arrived in Baghdad on a one-day visit and said that the Iraqis must take charge of their own security. The role of US troops, she added, should change from one of combat to one of training and supervision. Congress intends to vote against the new strategy of President Bush, Pelosi said, but it wouldn't stop financial allocations for new troops. Maliki, meanwhile, has said repeatedly that he wants Iraqi troops to receive the training and equipment they need to take over security missions in Iraq. The US president may have reiterated his "political support" for the government of Maliki, but the UN representative in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, described the government as "sectarian" and unrepresentative of all strands of Iraqis. Qazi, however, urged support for Bush's security plan. Iraqi Vice President Tarek Al-Hashemi, from the Sunni reconciliation bloc, said the security plan should be implemented "in an even-handed manner". Adnan Al-Duleimi, chairman of the reconciliation bloc, asked the Iraqi government to stop the bombardment of Sunni residential areas. The Sadr bloc said it supported the plan and ordered Al-Mahdi Army not to resist Iraqi and US forces. Nassar Al-Rubeyi, parliamentary spokesman of Sadr bloc, said that the bloc has given the government the names of the people who would be replacing current Sadr bloc ministers in government. "We wish to enhance the government's performance and prove our dedication to the political process," he said. So far the death toll among US troops has reached 3,079, counting four troops who were abducted from the governorate building of Karbala in southern Iraq and whose bodies were later found. The abduction of the four soldiers was described as "professional" because the kidnappers were dressed in US fatigues and spoke fluent English, which enabled them to pass through multiple checkpoints. In the third such incident in two weeks, a US helicopter was shot down in Najaf and its crew killed. It was not immediately clear who fired at the plane, but Najaf governor Asaad Abu Gulal expressed a view that the culprits were Sunni fighters "who came to the city to conduct attacks during the [Shia] festival of Ashoura". Independent sources say fighters loyal to Shia ulema (religious scholar) Ahmad Al-Huseini, who opposes the government, were attacked by Iraqi security forces in Al-Zarqaa, northeast of Najaf. Fierce clashes ensued during which the US military gave air support to Iraqi forces. According to security sources, up to 300 militiamen from a group called Jund Al-Samaa (Soldiers of Heaven) were killed in clashes Sunday in northern Najaf. According to Najaf police chief, 500 gunmen of Jund Al-Samaa had established positions in eight farms in Al-Zarqaa and started storing massive amounts of weapons. Five Iraqi soldiers were killed in battles in which US fighter planes, helicopters, and tanks also took part. The recent State of the Union address, during which President Bush pledged to continue his war on terror, left no impact on the general public. But Shia leaders were annoyed by Bush's tendency to draw parallels between Al-Mahdi Army and Al-Qaeda. Sunnis mostly agreed with the assessment, one of them pointing out that the US president "got it right" at least this time.
