UN warns US to tread carefully in siege city
As for Najaf, one of the holiest cities of Islam's Shi'ite sect that also is under near siege by US forces, Lakhdar Brahimi warned of a disaster if American soldiers enter the city to hunt down a radical cleric.
"This is a city with a lot of history. It is charged with a huge, huge quantity, if I might, if that's the word for it, of history," Mr Brahimi said yesterday.
"Sending the tanks hauling into a place like this is not the right thing to do, and I think the Americans know that extremely well now." But a US general warned troops are likely to enter parts of Najaf soon in a move to clamp down on the rebel militia but promised they will stay away from sensitive holy sites in the centre of the city to avoid rousing the anger of Shi'ites.
Brigadier General Mark Hertling has not said when troops would move in, or how many would be involved.
American officials were attempting a similar limited step in Fallujah, the other main front of fighting in Iraq this month.
US troops will begin patrols alongside Iraq security forces in Fallujah, a top Iraqi negotiator, Hachim al-Hassani, said yesterday an apparent attempt to restore control over the insurgent stronghold without a full-scale Marine assault, which would spark new bloodshed.
But like a previous agreement aimed at reducing the violence in the city, the new step hinged greatly on the response of Sunni guerrillas, who have been called on to turn in their heavy weapons and not carry any weapons in public.
"We hope the US soldiers will not be attacked when they enter the city. If they are attacked, they will respond and this will lead to problems," al-Hassani said.
He said Fallujah residents had promised no attacks would take place. But US officials have questioned whether Fallujah civic leaders, who have been negotiating with the Americans, have enough influence with the city's guerrillas.
Mr Brahimi, in an interview recorded on Friday in Paris, said as a diplomat, he considers military force the wrong answer for any problem. "That's especially the case with Fallujah, west of Baghdad in the so-called Sunni Triangle, and Najaf, in the southern Shi'ite region," he said.
President George W Bush consulted in a conference call on Saturday with senior national security and military advisers about the city, a senior defence official said.
Mr Brahimi said he wanted to add his voice "to that of a lot of other people in pleading for (US forces) to tread carefully" when it comes to Fallujah.
Before leaving Iraq he described the siege as unacceptable collective punishment of Fallujah's people for the misdeeds of a few. Asked about that yesterday, Mr Brahimi said: "When you surround a city, you bomb the city, when people cannot go to hospital, what name do you have for that? And you, if you have enemies there, this is exactly what they want you to do, to alienate more people so that more people support them rather than you.
"In this situation, there is no military solution."
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