IRAQI ARMY AND AL-SADR'S MEHDI ARMY CLASH: ONE US GI KILLED

FOX NEWS' Jennifer Griffen reported on Brit Hume's "Special Report" Monday night that Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army was giving up, but just the opposite is true. Fierce fighting has broke out Tuesday and is expected to continue as General Petraeus appears before Congress. The FOX NEWS report was based on what the Pentagon was telling Griffen and she should know better than to trust what the Pentagon is saying about the course of events in the war.

Iraqi army, al-Sadr's militiamen clash
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer 21 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;_ylt=Ant5GAOLXpk7gtbfQrwVRShX6GMA

BAGHDAD - Iraqi government forces and the Mahdi Army clashed anew Tuesday in Baghdad despite a government ultimatum to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to either disband his militia or give up politics.

Hundreds of civilians have already fled Sadr City, where gunbattles have raged since last week. The neighborhood, the nerve center of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, has been under siege by about 1,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops.

Fighting broke out again early Tuesday morning after Iraqi units tried to enter the cleric's stronghold, a police officer said.

The boom of explosions could be heard across much of Baghdad, apparently coming from the neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. Low-flying jets circled the center of the capital several hours before sunrise.

The two sides were using small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars in the ongoing combat, said the police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information to the media.

Al-Sadr's aides said Monday that he would only dismantle the powerful militia — estimated at up to 60,000 — if ordered by top Shiite clerics — who have remained silent throughout the increasingly dangerous showdown.

The fighting comes as Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, prepared to testify later Tuesday on the war.

He was expected to tell two Senate committees that last year's influx of 30,000 troops to Iraq had helped calm some of the sectarian violence but that to prevent a backslide in security, troops would likely be needed in large numbers through the end of the year.

An American soldier died Tuesday from wounds received in a roadside explosion. He was the 11th U.S. serviceman killed in Iraq since Sunday.

The rapid tumble back to street battles in Baghdad — at an intensity not seen since last year's flood of U.S. troops into the city — is a worrisome backdrop to the planned appearance before Congress by Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker to report on progress in Iraq.