Iraqi Security Forces Battling Ba'athist Insurgents in Najaf

Reuters at Yahoo, has an article about an ongoing battle in Najaf.

Iraqi security forces were fighting a group of Sunni insurgents holed up in orchards in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf on Sunday, the provincial governor said, and a witness reported seeing a helicopter come down.

While the focus of the article is an apparent US Army helicopter shot down, what is more revealing is other facts.

Governor Asaad Abu Gilel told Reuters the authorities had uncovered a plot by the fighters to kill some of the clerics on Monday, the climax of the Shi'ite mourning ritual of Ashura, a high point of the Shi'ite religious calendar.

Further down the article, it states,

Abu Gilel said the militants, who included foreign fighters, had arrived in the city disguised as pilgrims in recent days and based themselves in the orchards, which he said had been bought three or four months ago by supporters of Saddam Hussein.

According to the provincial governor, Sunni Ba'athist had a plan to kill Shi'ite clerics on 10th day of Muharram which is the anniversary of the 7th century Battle of Kerbala which helped consolidate the schism between Shi'ite and Sunni Islam. This fact is interesting since this plot was apparently months in the making. However, the most significant part of the article is,

Iraqi forces had now surrounded the orchards and were battling the militants. No U.S. troops were involved in the operation, but U.S. helicopters were providing air support.

Finally, Governor Asaad Abu Gilel is quoted as saying,

Troop reinforcements from the nearby city of Hilla were on their way.

What we are seeing in Najaf is a plot by Sunni Ba'athists to kill Shi'ite clerics on this symbolic Shi'ite day to continue the sectiarian strife that has plagued Iraq. But more importantly, we are seeing Iraqi forces and intelligence uncovering this plot, surrounding the enemy, and moving in reinforcements to kill these insurgents. All of this without US troop support.

For anybody who is stating that our mission is Iraq is a failure, they only have to look to this article as proof of its success.

The Sunni insurgency is crumbling more and more everyday as Iraqi forces are able to uncover plots like this one in Najaf and destroy not only the insurgents themselves, but also their morale.