'Defining moment' in Iraq's history

Last Modified: 28 Mar 2008
By: Nick Paton Walsh

US troops launch air strikes on Basra against Shia militias in what President Bush calls a 'defining moment' for Iraq.

US troops have been drawn into the Iraqi government crackdown on Shia militias, in what President Bush has called a "defining moment" in the country's history.

The Americans have launched air strikes in Basra for the first time and are fighting militants on the ground in Baghdad.

At least 120 people have been killed in Basra since the start of the campaign on Tuesday - and the government has extended a deadline for militias to hand over their weapons.

'I would say that this is a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq. '
US President George Bush

The Iraqi parliament tried to meet today inside Baghdad's Green Zone, to stop four days of violence edging towards civil war.

But only one-fifth of MPs made it in. The vice-president's office was mortared.

Across town, violence flared. In the slum of Sadr City, US troops were in action for the first time in this battle, fighting Mahdi army gunmen on the ground.

The US has been dragged into a battle started by Iraqi premier Nouri al-Maliki and intended to quickly destroy a rival militia. It didn't.

This morning's ultimatum for the militia to disarm has been extended - almost meaninglessly - for 10 days. Again there is chaos and a sense of collapse in Iraq.

It is not just a local problem. It will be on the agenda when President Bush meets Gordon Brown on 17 April.

Today President Bush's overstretched military launched air strikes on Basra, where 4,000 UK troops remain in their airport base.

The Mahdi army will not listen to their national leadership, and still control the streets in Basra, according to one resident.

Shops are shut, drinking water is scarce, and food prices have quadrupled. The Iraqi army has been taken by surprise.

Time is short. There are reports of clashes in Diwaniya and Hilla, of violence in Kut, and that the militia control the centre of Nassiriyah.

The Iraqi government insists the fighting is not a a grab for power from its political rivals, but a simple police operation.

But it is not just a local problem. It will be on the agenda when President Bush meets Gordon Brown on 17 April.

And it could be that Basra is just the beginning. Channel 4 News has been told a large operation could also begin in the northern insurgent stronghold of Mosul, where US troops say al-Qaida is recruiting teenage insurgents.

Iraq's government, already weak, is finding ever more enemies within.