Ibn Khaldun wrote his penetrating works on the philosophy of history some 700 years after Karbala.
In the south, Shiite rebels controlled major cities such as Karbala, Najaf, and Basra.
In the coming week, 2 million Shiites are expected to attend services in Najaf and Karbala.
U.S. forces have been engaging Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army in Najaf, Karbala and Kufa.
American forces launched further attacks on the militia led by Muqtada al-Sadr in Karbala and Najaf.
In the holy Shiite city of Karbala, drivers burned tires in front of gas stations in protest.
Inspectors visited the site -- referred to as the Karbala Ammunition Filling Plant -- on February 23.
Karbala has also been encircled in a three-hour battle that was supposed to have been very severe.
More than a million pilgrims had gathered in Karbala, a city of about 750, 000, by Tuesday, said Brig.
Karbala is a Shiite holy city, southwest of the capital city of Baghdad.
He died in battle in the seventh century and is buried in Karbala.
U.S. commanders told him that elements of the 3rd Infantry had moved into Karbala overnight, where they encountered Iraqi troops.
The pilgrimage to Karbala is, in part, atonement for the failure of the pilgrims' ancestors to come to Hussein's aid.
Monday, a 30-strong Apache helicopter group was met with a "wall of gunfire" near Karbala, and several choppers were hit.
According to historical accounts, Imam Hussein was killed in a battle near Karbala, where he was overwhelmingly outnumbered by Yazeed's army.
It is known that some elements of the Republican Guard's crack Medina Division were near Karbala, about 40 miles closer to Baghdad.
For decades, Saddam and his Baath Party prevented pilgrims from entering Karbala.
But the south has long been a destination for Shia Muslim pilgrims wanting to visit the holy sites at Najaf and Karbala.
Carts, motorcycles and bicycles were banned from Baghdad streets Saturday evening to protect Shiite pilgrims trekking south to Karbala for a pilgrimage.
Karbala is where Muslim martyr Imam Hussein bin Ali -- grandson of the prophet Mohammed -- was killed and entombed more than 1, 300 years ago.
There was 50, 000 allocated to provide books to the Karbala library.
But the governor of Karbala complained that progress is still slow.
Both were from Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Seattle and served in Mosul, Iraq, then saw fighting in Najaf and Karbala as well as action in Baghdad.
Security rings have been set up around the city's shrines, and anyone coming into Karbala will have to go through a number of checkpoints, he said.
We looked at the Karbala library and we looked at the Babylon Police Academy, and in both cases there were grant moneys and contract dollars that simply disappeared.
Days later Muqtada al-Sadr, the turbulent Shia cleric whose forces this month handed the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala back to the central government's control, echoed the call.
But ICRC teams can no longer access the towns of Karbala, Nasiriya, Najaf and Hillah, and a convoy carrying medical supplies for hospital in Hillah had to be canceled, he said.
KARBALA, Iraq (CNN) -- Crowds of Shia Muslims Wednesday chanted and danced in the streets of this holy city on the final day of a pilgrimage long suppressed under Saddam Hussein's rule.
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