0e8aeb6a-8487-45e3-8504-04241ffc6584.jpgLast week, Maliki and his cronies were blocked by Sadr’s fighters. This week, US forces are taking their place, maintaining a siege force around Sadr City and attempting to defeat Sadr’s Mahdi army with both air strikes and sweeps into this Baghdad nationalist stronghold.

Reports of air strikes on Sadr City neighborhoods appear daily in Iraqi sources but get almost no attention here – and the civilian death toll mounts – again with barely a word in the US press.

During the night from Saturday to Sunday, April 5 to 6, the US forces went from raids and arrests to large-scale attacks, based on the following reports: AP reported five killed and 17 wounded, including women and children, in "clashes" in Sadr City, then reported that at least 20 people died and 50 were wounded. Continuing into Sunday, AFP said a US airstrike killed nine people at 8:00 in the morning, a strike the US army confirmed, and that another airstrike involving two missiles at 11:00 in the morning, which wasn't "immediately confirmed".

And news just in at GorillasGuides reports:

There is very heavy fighting going on in Sadr city. The Americans have it under siege and are refusing all access to the city. American helicopters have bombed the city repeatedly. American snipers are being deployed on the roof tops. Imam Ali spokesmen say they are now desperately short of medical supplies. The Red Crescent attempts to get emergency medical supplies to the city which we reported yesterday have failed because the Americans will not let them through.

There are reports that the fires caused by the American bombing of the Jameela market are spreading and that there is no water being pumped to the city.

CrooksandLiars has more.

Sadrists in Baghdad are describing these attacks as “collective punishment:”

The official spokesman for the Sadrist bloc (in parliament), Saleh alAkili told AlHayat, "The announcement issued by Maliki about stopping the [arbitrary] searches and arrests was an attempt to throw sand in our eyes", explaining: "The arrests have not stopped, in spite of Maliki's announcement to that effect. And the American forces continue to spread terror among the people of Sadr City, stationing themselves in force at the entrances of local streets, carrying out nighttime raids, arresting hundreds of Sadr City youths, without warrants.

Yesterday, western media sources were claiming some success for the US attacks but today’s news of rocket rounds hitting the green zone and a nearby base – killing 3 US soldiers and wounding 31 others.

US military spokesmen continue to claim that the attacks on US forces are Iranian backed or inspired:

Nobody claimed responsibility for the Baghdad attacks, but U.S. commanders have blamed what they call Iranian-backed rogue militia groups for launching missiles against American forces.

The absurdity of this continued attempt to blame Iran for attacks on US forces when it is Cheney’s pals Hakim and Maliki who are the ones most closely allied with Iran suggests a possible line we can expect to hear from Petraeus and Crocker in their testimony this week:

Iranian forces were involved in the recent battle for Basra, General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, is expected to tell Congress this week.

Military and intelligence sources believe Iranians were operating at a tactical command level with the Shi’ite militias fighting Iraqi security forces; some were directing operations on the ground, they think.

Petraeus intends to use the evidence of Iranian involvement to argue against any reductions in US forces.

While Petraeus tries to spin his latest tales, Sadr’s supporters will gather in Baghdad for a mass march to call for an end to the US occupation:

"Time has come to express your rejection and raise your voices loud against the unjust occupier, the enemy of the peoples and humanity and against the horrible massacres which have been committed against our people," Sadr said in the statement.

He called on demonstrators to carry national flags to show their unity and demand the independence of their country, Sadr said.

The appearance of Petraeus in Washington will present an opportunity for Democrats to speak up for an end to our war of occupation as Ira Chernus writes in the latest TomDispatch:

Wise Democrats would heed the words of media critic Norman Solomon: "Arguments over whether U.S. forces can prevail in Iraq bypass a truth that no amount of media spin can change: The U.S. war effort in Iraq has always been illegitimate and fundamentally wrong." The longer we stay in Iraq, the longer we perpetuate the wrongs we have done, regardless of whether we achieve military success by anyone's measure.

We are uninvited intruders in Iraq. We invaded the country on false pretenses. It's long past time for us to admit that truth and leave. The longer we stay, the longer we tell the world that invasion and occupation are okay with us, and the longer we leave America's moral reputation around the world in tatters. When our troops leave, we will set an example for countries that have occupied, or might be tempted to occupy, other lands. And we can begin to heal from our moral bankruptcy, not to mention our impending financial one.

If Democrats take that approach, they will shift the terms of the debate. Then they can speak truths about the war that the American people might be prepared to understand. They can pose hard questions -- and not ones of military strategy either -- that the administration simply cannot answer.

The question is whether they will have the guts to make that argument.

Update: Our friend CTuttle is the new lead blogger at Main and Central - make sure you visit him there often!

Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt Jeffrey Allen 4/6/08