Apparently, the US is going to go Fallujah on Najaf.
U.S. forces urge civilians to leave Najaf
NAJAF, Iraq American forces urged civilians to evacuate the combat zone in Najaf on Tuesday, the sixth day of clashes with Shiite militias that have restricted output from southern Iraqi oil fields and sent world oil prices soaring.
U.S. troops in Humvees drove through the center of the Shiite city, using loudspeakers to call on civilians to evacuate the zone immediately.
Residents said it was the first time U.S. troops had called for a mass evacuation, adding that they feared a massive attack on the Mahdi Army of the radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr in the city’s cemetery, and on the shrine of Imam Ali, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites.
Artillery and tank shells earlier pounded positions in the vast cemetery. A thick column of smoke rose from near the Imam Ali shrine, and Iraqi police in trucks were seen heading for the area while U.S. helicopters flew overhead.
A senior U.S. military official said Monday that marines had been given permission to enter the Ali shrine to attack the militants, and that any action taken would be “on the order and direction of the governor.”
As if a “governor” could give permission for the holiest shrine in Shi`a Islam to be desecrated. Right.
This might actually end up worse than Fallujah.