by Amal Jayasinghe
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq’s holiest Shiite city of Najaf had a blunt message for visiting US Ambassador Ryan Crocker — your arms are not welcome here, but your alms certainly are.
Najaf governor Assad Sultan Abu Gelal said he did not want the United States to replicate in his province the strategy of funding former Sunni insurgents, a move claimed to have reduced Al-Qaeda attacks in neighbouring Anbar.

“We told them (the Americans) we don’t need an Awakening Council like in Anbar,” Abu Gelal told reporters on Saturday in the presence of Crocker, who was on his second visit to Najaf this year.

“Because of the oppression we suffered under the previous regime we need to awaken our villages which were neglected” under the rule of Saddam Hussein.

The governor said he opposed arming militias and wanted to ensure that the remnants of militant groups were disarmed, not the other way round.

The Sahwa or “Awakening” movements consist of mainly Sunni former insurgents who joined the US side and are now battling Al-Qaeda. Such groups are armed and paid by the US military.

Abu Gelal said there had been no major attacks in Najaf, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Baghdad, for years and that it was the safest place in Iraq.

The last major attack was in February last year, when a suicide car bomber killed at least 13 people at a police checkpoint.

The shrine city houses the highly venerated Imam Ali Mosque, and nearby is what is believed to the largest cemetery in the Muslim world where several prophets are buried.

Iraqi forces took responsibility for security in Najaf from US troops in December 2006, nearly four years after the invasion. It was the first Iraqi province to be returned to full Iraqi army control.

Abu Gelal said security is no longer the pressing issue it remains in some other Iraqi provinces, but that jobs and utilities are badly needed.

Crocker was in Najaf to open a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) office that will spend on infrastructure, economic activity and improve local skills.

Previously an office in Hilla, capital of adjoining Babil province, had responsibility for Najaf.

“It just didn’t make sense” to operate from Hilla, Crocker said. “We need to move forward, not backwards.”

Earlier Crocker opened another PRT office in the nearby Shiite holy city of Karbala to the north. “Part of the strategy is to strengthen moderates” in the Shiite population, he said.

American forces have faced stiff opposition from anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose power base is derived from Najaf. His Mahdi Army militia has been fighting US forces in Baghdad’s Sadr City district.

Those battles have died down since the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, agreed a truce with the Sadrists on May 10 and deployed Iraqi soldiers in Sadr City, home to two million Shiites.

“The prime minister has clearly demonstrated that he is clearly determined to take (on) the extremists whether they are Shiite or Sunni,” the ambassador said, adding that he recognised the “Sadr trend is an important element.”

Crocker said he sees huge economic potential in Najaf for religious tourism. He wants international hotels to open in the city where an international airport is now under construction.

Millions of pilgrims visit Najaf annually — the city is to Shiite Muslims what the Vatican is to Roman Catholics.

The ambassador said he wanted part of the 10 million dollars immediately available for work in Najaf province to help prepare for upcoming provincial elections.

The vote was originally expected by early October, but Crocker said that was “more aspirational.”

“It is more important to get it right than to get it quickly,” he said.

Abu Gelal, who is not running in the provincial elections, wants water supplies, sewerage systems and electricity for the province’s 1.5 million population.

“We generate only 100 megawatts, but the demand is 400 megawatts,” he said, adding that residents had electricity for only a few hours a day.

Providing power to the villages and improving living standards will also dissuade young people from taking up arms, he said of impoverished neighbourhoods where the militias traditionally trawled for recruits.

By Hossein Jaseb

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Monday dismissed any prospect of new talks with the United States on Iraq, accusing U.S.-led forces on Monday of a “massacre” of the Iraqi people.

The two foes last year held three rounds of ground-breaking discussions in Baghdad, easing a diplomatic freeze of almost three decades, but Iraqi officials have expressed frustration that a fourth round has failed to get off the ground.

Iraq says it does not want its soil to become a battleground for a proxy war between the United States and Iran, which are also at loggerheads over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

“Right now, what we observe in Iraq is a massacre of the Iraqi nation by the occupying forces,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference.

“Concerning this situation, talks with America will have no results and will be meaningless.”

Hosseini did not elaborate, but U.S. forces have been fighting daily battles with militiamen loyal to anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad for several weeks.

Washington accuses Iran of funding, arming and training “rogue” elements of Sadr’s Mehdi Army to attack U.S. and Iraqi forces, despite its public commitment to stabilizing Iraq.

Tehran blames the violence on the U.S. presence in Iraq.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey criticized Iran for its latest statements and reiterated U.S. accusations of Iranian meddling in its neighbor’s affairs.

“It is meaningless to have talks on anything with Iran as long as they don’t change their behavior. That said, we have continued to be willing and ready, and are willing and ready, to have additional discussions with the Iranians through this tripartite channel,” Casey told reporters.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said there was no point in continuing the talks at this point.

“We see the value of the talks to be continued, but when the conditions are right and conducive,” he told the U.S. television news network CNN.

SHI’ITE MILITIAS

Despite the mutual accusations, U.S. and Iranian officials had launched talks in May last year aimed at easing bloodshed in Iraq. The fourth meeting has been postponed repeatedly.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also voiced support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in cracking down on “illegal” Shi’ite militias, after an Iraqi delegation urged Tehran to stop backing such groups.

The U.S. military said last week “very, very significant” amounts of Iranian arms had been found in Basra and Baghdad during an offensive against gunmen loyal to Sadr.

Maliki has ordered the formation of a committee to compile evidence of Iranian “interference” in Iraq that would then be presented to Tehran, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh Dabbagh said on Sunday.

Hosseini said Tehran had always supported stability in Iraq.

“What Iran has repeatedly said … was its support for Mr Maliki’s government,” Hosseini said. “Iran believes that illegal armed groups that committed crimes should be legally confronted.”

Ties between Iran and Iraq have improved since Sunni Arab strongman Saddam Hussein was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion and a Shi’ite-led government came to power in Baghdad.

Analysts say Tehran wants to keep a friendly government in charge while ensuring that rival Iraqi Shi’ite factions look to Iran as a power broker.

(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi, Aseel Kami in Baghdad, and Sue Plemingin Washington; Writing by Fredrik Dahl, editing by Ross Colvin and Myra MacDonald)

By TERRY KINNEY, Associated Press Writer

BATAVIA, Ohio - Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin’s parents vowed to never let the U.S. Army forget about finding their son.

Their efforts included trips to the Pentagon and even meeting with President Bush, but they ended in disappointment Sunday: An Army general told them the remains of Maupin, a soldier who had been listed as missing-captured in Iraq since 2004, had been found.

“My heart sinks, but I know they can’t hurt him anymore,” Keith Maupin said after receiving word about the remains of his son, who went by Matt.

On Monday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed sympathy to Maupin’s family.

“This has been especially difficult for the Maupin family because of not knowing for almost exactly four years. So I want to extend my condolences,” Gates said, speaking to reporters aboard a flight to Denmark.

The Army didn’t say how or where in Iraq his son’s remains were discovered, only that the identification was made with DNA testing, Maupin said. A shirt similar to the one his son was wearing at the time of his disappearance was also found.

Lt. Col. Lee Packnett, an Army public affairs officer in Washington, said an official statement about the identification would be released Monday.

The Army was continuing its investigation, Maupin said.

Matt Maupin was a 20-year-old private first class when he was captured April 9, 2004, after his fuel convoy, part of the Bartonville, Ill.-based 724th Transportation Company, was ambushed west of Baghdad.

A week later, the Arab television network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing a stunned-looking Maupin wearing camouflage and a floppy desert hat, sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.

That June, Al-Jazeera aired another tape purporting to show a U.S. soldier being shot. But the dark and grainy tape showed only the back of the victim’s head and not the execution.

The Maupins refused to believe their son was dead. They lobbied hard for the Army to continue listing him as missing-captured, fearing that another designation would undermine efforts to find him.

The Pentagon agreed to give the Maupins regular briefings, and Bush met with them when he traveled to Cincinnati.

Keith Maupin said the Army told him soon after his son’s capture that there was only a 50 percent chance he would be found alive. He said he doesn’t hold the Army responsible for his son’s death, but that he did hold the Army responsible for bringing his son home.

“I told them when we’d go up to the Pentagon, whether he walks off a plane or is carried off, you’re not going to leave him in Iraq like you did those guys in Vietnam,” Maupin said.

Keith Maupin and his ex-wife, Carolyn, held a candlelight vigil Sunday night outside the Yellow Ribbon Support Center in Batavia, an office they used to package thousands of boxes of donated snacks and toiletries for shipment to soldiers in Iraq.

“It hurts,” Carolyn Maupin said. “After you go through almost four years of hope, and this is what happens, it’s like a letdown, so I’m trying to get through that right now.”

The Maupins said they would hold to their previous plans for Monday and appear in the baseball season opening day parade for the Reds in downtown Cincinnati.

Asked how they would suspend their grief and take part in the parade, Keith Maupin said, “Our mission continues.” They raise funds for the Yellow Ribbon center and for scholarships for children of veterans.

The Maupins were told by an Army official on Friday to expect an update on their son over the weekend, Keith Maupin said. The Army broke the news about their son’s remains at a somber meeting.

“When you look out there in the parking lot and see a three-star general get out of a car, you know it ain’t good news,” Keith Maupin said.

Four U.S. service members remain missing in Iraq: Capt. Michael Speicher, a Navy pilot, has been missing since the 1991 Persian Gulf War; Sgt. Ahmed al-Taie, a 41-year-old Iraqi-born reserve soldier from Ann Arbor, Mich., was abducted while visiting his Iraqi wife in October 2006 in Baghdad, and Pfc. Byron Fouty and Sgt. Alex Jimenez have been missing since May 12.

Matt Maupin graduated from Glen Este High School, just east of Cincinnati, in 2001 and attended the University of Cincinnati for a year before joining the Army Reserves.

Dan Simmons, the athletic director at Glen Este, remembered him as a quiet but hardworking backup player on the school’s football team.

“Matt was a selfless kid on the football field,” Simmons said. “He did whatever the coaches told him. He wasn’t a starter, but he made the other kids play harder.”

A month after his capture, Maupin was promoted to the rank of specialist. In April 2005, he was promoted to sergeant.

By BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD - The fortified Green Zone came under fresh attack Monday, less than 24 hours after anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told his fighters to stand down following a week of clashes with government forces.

Al-Sadr’s order stopped short of disarming his fighters and left the militia intact in a blow to the credibility of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who flew to the southern oil city of Basra a week ago to personally oversee a crackdown on militia violence.

The Shiite leader promised “a decisive and final battle” but made little headway. A key adviser to al-Maliki said the operations against al-Sadr’s followers would end within days.

“Before the end of this week, the operations will come to an end and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will be back to Baghdad,” the adviser, Sami al-Askari, said.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said, however, that “operations will not end until Basra reaches a secure and acceptable situation enabling Iraqi citizens to live normal and secure lives.”

He did not elaborate on how long that might take.

The rocket or mortar attacks on the nerve center of the U.S. mission and the Iraqi government continued more than a week of near-daily fire mostly from Shiite-dominated areas of eastern Baghdad.

The number of rounds going into the zone has dropped in recent days, but the continuing attacks indicate that al-Sadr may not be able to reign in all Shiite militia factions.

The U.S. Embassy said no serious injuries were reported and the U.S. military said it had no reports of major damage. At least two Americans working for the U.S. government died in attacks on the zone last week.

The clashes between Shiite militias and Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces began Tuesday, when al-Maliki launched military operations against the group and vowed to remain in Basra until the mission was accomplished. The battles there and violence that spread to other southern cities and Baghdad killed at least 400 people.

Al-Sadr’s cease-fire call followed intense negotiations by Shiite officials, including two lawmakers who traveled to Iran to ask religious authorities there to intervene, according to Iraqi officials familiar with the negotiations.

The situation in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, was relatively calm on Monday, although sporadic gunfire could still be heard in the streets and AP Television News footage showed Iraqi troops searching house-to-house apparently targeting militants.

Some supermarkets and stores were open but residents said few people were venturing out.

A citywide curfew was lifted in Baghdad, although a vehicle ban remained on three strongholds of al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia in the capital.

Sadr City, the Shiite neighborhood where many of the mortars and rockets landing in the Green Zone are believed to be launched, was calm, residents said. Cars and buses were moving within the sprawling area, though they weren’t allowed to leave.

In other parts of Baghdad, shops and schools were open and people were heading to work.

Al-Sadr’s order was announced Sunday after lawmakers Hadi al-Amri and Ali al-Adeeb reportedly asked Iranian authorities to stop the flow of weapons to al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army as well as groups closely allied with the Americans. Tehran denies that it backs Iraqi militias.

The lawmakers — both of whom have close ties to Iran — also asked the Iranians to pressure al-Sadr to come up with a face-saving initiative, according to Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Near Buhriz, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, unknown gunmen in a car attacked a checkpoint manned by U.S.-backed Sunni fighters, police said. Four of the fighters were killed.

___

Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Bushra Juhi and Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this report.

By Khaled Farhan

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on his followers on Sunday to stop battling government forces after a week of fighting in southern Iraq and Baghdad threatened to spiral out of control.

A crackdown on Shi’ite militants in the southern oil port of Basra has sparked an explosion of violence that risked undoing the past year’s improvements in Iraq’s security.

“Because of the religious responsibility, and to stop Iraqi blood being shed … we call for an end to armed appearances in Basra and all other provinces,” Sadr said in a statement given to journalists by his aides in the holy Shi’ite city of Najaf.

“Anyone carrying a weapon and targeting government institutions will not be one of us.”

U.S. forces have been drawn deeper into the fighting, which exposed a rift in Iraq’s Shi’ite majority between parties in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government and Sadr’s populist street movement.

The government welcomed Sadr’s statement but said it would press on with its offensive in Basra.

“The operation in Basra will continue and will not stop until it achieves its goals. It is not targeting the Sadrists but criminals,” spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters.

Scores of people have been killed in clashes in southern Iraq and in Shi’ite neighborhoods of the capital, where an indefinite curfew is now in place to contain further violence.

In his statement, Sadr also called for an end to “random arrests” of his followers and for them to benefit from an amnesty law passed by parliament in February aimed at freeing thousands of prisoners from Iraqi jails.

Maliki, in Basra to oversee the six-day-old operation, has ordered Shi’ite fighters there to lay down their arms and has extended a 72-hour deadline until April 8 for them to turn over heavy and medium weapons in return for cash.

Sadr aide Hazem al-Araji said Mehdi Army fighters would not hand over guns: “The weapons of the resistance will not be delivered to the Iraqi government,” he told journalists.

Araji also said there had been an agreement with the government to stop “random arrests,” an underlying grievance of Sadr’s followers that has fuelled this week’s violence.

Sadr’s followers have accused Maliki and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, his most powerful Shi’ite ally in government, of trying to crush them ahead of provincial elections due in October in which they are expected to make a strong showing.

KEY TEST

Sadrists have complained that Iraqi and U.S. forces have exploited a truce called by the cleric last August to make indiscriminate arrests. The U.S. military says it only targets those who disobeyed Sadr’s ceasefire order.

A key test will be whether Sadr’s unruly militia, which he has sought to reorganize in recent months to root out rogue elements, will obey his order to stand down.

Shortly after Sadr’s statement, a salvo of rockets or mortars was fired at the Green Zone diplomatic and government compound in central Baghdad. The U.S. military has blamed rogue Mehdi Army militiamen for similar barrages in the past week.

But in the southern city of Nassiriya a Reuters reporter said clashes with security forces had stopped and Mehdi Army fighters were seen withdrawing from the streets.

This week’s fighting has placed the United States in a dilemma. While it wants Iraqi forces to take the lead on security, the Basra operation endangered Sadr’s truce, a key factor in the drop in violence in Iraq since last June.

The United States also risks being sucked into an intra- Shi’ite conflict at a time when it plans to pull out some 20,000 troops and decide soon on future troop levels. Democrats seeking to succeed President George W. Bush want speedier withdrawals.

U.S. forces said they killed at least 14 fighters in two helicopter missile strikes in Baghdad early on Sunday. They also said special forces have been operating alongside Iraqi units in Basra, where air strikes killed 22 fighters on Saturday.

The government offensive has so far had little success reclaiming the streets of Basra.

Shortly before Sadr’s statement, Reuters Television pictures showed masked Mehdi Army fighters brandishing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers outside a state television transmission station after setting fire to Iraqi troop carriers.

(Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim, Wisam Mohammed and Peter Graff in Baghdad; Writing by Ross Colvin; Editing by Giles Elgood)