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Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shias have demonstrated in the holy city of Najaf, calling for US-led troops to leave Iraq.

The protesters were responding to an appeal by cleric Moqtada Sadr, who branded US forces "your arch enemy" in a statement. [...]

In a statement issued on Sunday, the cleric asked Iraqis not to "walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your arch enemy" and to turn all their efforts on US forces.

But he warned followers against violence, urging the Mehdi Army and Iraqi security forces "to be to be patient and to unite your efforts against the enemy and not against the sons of Iraq".

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[My translation - I can't find this report in English!!??]

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Nine U.S. soldiers were killed and 20 injured in a suicide car-bomb attack against a base northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. army has announced. [...]

It's the second attack on a U.S. base north of Baghdad in just over 2 months. On February 19, insurgents hit at U.S. post at Tarmiyah, about 50 km north of the capital, killing two soldiers and injuring 17.

Direct attacks on military bases are relatively rare in Iraq. Militants more often prepare ambushes, place roadside bombs, or use mortar fire against U.S. forces.

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CBC.ca:

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A suicide car bomber struck a patrol base northeast of Baghdad on Monday, killing nine U.S. soldiers and wounding 20 in the single deadliest attack on American ground forces in more than a year, the military said.

An Iraqi civilian also was wounded in the attack on Task Force Lightning soldiers in Diyala province, a volatile area that has been the site of fierce fighting involving U.S. and Iraqi troops, Sunni insurgents and Shia militias.

At least 48 Iraqis were killed in seven other bombings, violence that has persisted despite a nearly 10-week-old U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown aimed at pacifying Baghdad. [...]

The deaths raised to 85 the number of U.S. service members who have died in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for American troops since December, when 112 died.

[...]

A U.S. soldier also was killed Monday in a roadside bombing in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, the military said in an earlier statement.

A British soldier was shot to death while on patrol in the southern city of Basra, officials said.

A suicide car bomber also struck a police station in the Diyala provincial capital of Baqouba, killing 10 people and wounding 23.

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Although this is interesting: Howard refuses to remove Aussie troops because such a move would "humiliate" the US.

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It would be a "colossal blow to American prestige in the Middle East and around the world" if the coalition pulled out of Iraq and appeared to have lost the war, he said.

"There is nothing in it for Australia in seeing America humiliated in the Middle East," he told ABC Radio.

"And that's the effect of calling for Australian withdrawal, because if it's OK for us to go why isn't it OK for the Americans and the British to go?"

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Riverbend calls it quits, is leaving Iraq

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We don't know if whatever we leave, including the house, will be available when and if we come back. There are moments when the injustice of having to leave your country, simply because an imbecile got it into his head to invade it, is overwhelming. It is unfair that in order to survive and live normally, we have to leave our home and what remains of family and friends… And to what?

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