Basra's deputy governor for administrative affairs, Hajj Salam Awdeh al-Maliky, proposed on 12 August 2004 to send 1,000 Iraqi security personnel to Najaf, arguing their deployment would allow American troops to pull back from the holy city.
Al-Maliky, a backer of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, said the contingent would come from Basra's police, special security units, and national guardsmen. He gave the federal government only a few hours to respond before he would act on his own authority.
The offer came as US and Iraqi forces entered their second week of joint operations against Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. Some Basra national guardsmen indicated they might defect to the militia if the proposal were turned down.
Al-Maliky warned that an American push into Najaf's shrine district would ignite wider unrest: "Basra will become another Najaf," he said. By Thursday, coalition troops had moved into the old city, where Sadr's fighters had gathered near a revered Shiite shrine. A raid on Sadr's home in eastern Najaf found the building empty, his spokesman confirmed.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in August 2004, in its own words.