Iraq rally peaceful, but new danger seen

NAJAF, Iraq — Flying banners that said "No, no to the occupation," tens of thousands of followers of anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr staged a peaceful rally Monday in one of Iraq's holiest cities, where they burned American and Israeli flags and called for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.

There were ominous signs afterward that al-Sadr's enormous Mahdi Army militia may be preparing for renewed violence in Baghdad.

Monday evening, as protesters returned in trucks and buses to Baghdad's sprawling Shiite slum of Sadr City, men in several buses were seen carrying pistols and AK-47s, a violation of new security laws. One man who identified himself as a Mahdi Army member bragged that weapons were being taken from Najaf to Baghdad hidden in truck beds.

The protest in Najaf, which al-Sadr had called as a gesture of national unity, took place under heavy Iraqi security on the fourth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Protesters waving red, white and black Iraqi flags marched about five miles from a mosque in the town of Kufa to Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad.

There was no appearance by al-Sadr, who hasn't been seen publicly since a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown against the Mahdi Army and Sunni insurgents started seven weeks ago. Some analysts speculated that the protest, which was announced two weeks ago, was Sadr's attempt to reassert influence over his followers.

Although the Mahdi Army is blamed for the widespread kidnapping and killing of Sunni Muslims, over the weekend al-Sadr urged Iraqi security forces and all Iraqi people to band together against U.S.-led coalition forces.

The rhetoric at the rally was menacing at times. "The occupation and the people connected to it will vanish," the demonstration's organizers said in a statement, "and Iraq will stay for Iraqis and the country for its sons."

Much of the country was quiet after a last-minute government decree made it a national holiday. Fearing suicide attacks, car bombings or other mayhem in the capital, Iraq's generals ordered all vehicles off the streets for 24 hours starting at 5 a.m. Monday, normally a work day. The capital was eerily quiet, shops were shuttered and locked, and reports of sectarian violence fell to near zero.

Early today, however, a female suicide attacker detonated her bomb in a crowd of police recruits northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 14 people, police and hospital officials said.

The woman, wearing a black abaya, walked into a crowd of about 200 police recruits at the main gate of the police station at Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, according to a police officer.

At the protest Monday, the message of unity appeared to prevail. Although the march culminated in Najaf's al-Sadrain Square — which honors al-Sadr's late father and uncle, both revered Shiite clerics — protesters didn't carry pictures of al-Sadr or other religious leaders. Instead, the Iraqi flag was seen everywhere.

"It's a spiritual duty for each Iraqi to go out and demand the departure of the occupation," said Hamid Kahil, an al-Sadr supporter who traveled to Najaf from Nasiriyah, 150 miles to the south.

Salah al-Obaydi, a senior official in al-Sadr's Najaf organization, called the rally a "call for liberation. We're hoping that by next year's anniversary, we will be an independent and liberated Iraq with full sovereignty."

And the head of al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, Nassar al-Rubaie, blasted the U.S. presence as an affront to "the dignity of the Iraqi people. After four years of occupation, we have hundreds of thousands of people dead and wounded."

A key Washington official saw it differently.

"Iraq, four years on, is now a place where people can freely gather and express their opinions," said Gordon Johndroe, the National Security Council spokesman. "And while we have much more progress ahead of us — the United States, the coalition and Iraqis have much more to do — this is a country that has come a long way from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein."

Col. Steven Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman and aide to Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, praised the peaceful demonstration and said Iraqis "could not have done this four years ago."

Iraqi soldiers in uniform joined the crowd of marchers, which stretched for at least three miles. The vast majority of the demonstrators were Shiites, but some Sunnis from Iraq's southern Basra province also participated.

Brig. Abdul Kerim al-Mayahi, the Najaf police chief, said there were as many as 600,000 in the march, although other estimates were significantly lower. He said 30 lawmakers made the hike and there was no U.S. troop presence except surveillance from helicopters hovering above.

4 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD — Three U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, and another died in combat in Anbar province, the military said today.

The three were killed Monday by a roadside bomb and a secondary explosion near their patrol in southeast Baghdad, the military said.

Another U.S. soldier was killed while conducting combat operations in Iraq's western Anbar province, the military said.

In Washington, the Pentagon said it is considering a plan to extend the tours of duty for up to 15,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq.

Defense officials are considering a maximum 120-day extension for five active-duty brigades that would otherwise return home in the coming months — four ground units and one aviation combat brigade totaling roughly 15,000 troops, a defense official said. The plan would have to be approved by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Other options include sending some troops earlier than planned. There now are about 145,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

Also on Monday, officials said some 13,000 National Guard troops are receiving notice to prepare for possible deployment to Iraq, which would be the second tour for several thousand of them.

The units are the Army National Guard's 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, based in Little Rock, Ark.; 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma City; the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Indianapolis, and the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Columbus, Ohio.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.