Middle East News
Mahdi Army tightens Basra grip, al-Maliki extends deadline (Roundup)
Mar 28, 2008, 13:08 GMT
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why is it that in the so-called 'coalition of the willing' fighting for freedom in Iraqalqaeda only the United States is willing to go after and kill enemy? The cowardly brits hide behind walled compounds while our guys bravely engage the terrorists in this war on evil. Certainly we can not expect the analicki shia to fight anyone since they are brothers with the Iraqalqaeda terrorists. And, the communist oriented beaurocrats at the UN are just a bunch of effeminate wimps who only want to cry about global warming. So leave it to America to have to go solo, as usual, in a glorious, patriotic effort to save the world from the forces of evil.
Once we get control of our oil, we will have the resources necessary to quickly strike at all the evil in Iran, and eliminate it. By then we will be prepared to take the battle just a few hundred miles further, to Armageddon for our final fight between good and evil. In the shock and awe of it all we shall fight many enemy, and many terrorist nations. We will really find out who is with us and who is against us, but we will not be surprised when some of our so called friends in the coalition bear false witness against us and become enemy. That is ok because we are used to enemy ganging up on us, and our God is on our side, and therefore we will win anyway.
Clearly the much touted American surge has failed.
The Mahdi Army has shown that it not subject to the authority of the American backed Iraqi National Government, and the destruction of a major pipeline demonstrated that the idea of the Coalition ensuring security in Iraq is chimerical.
In the face of robust and continuing Iraqi resistance to the overwhelming military might of the coalition, the American public remains in the thrall of politicians stoking their vast egos with cries for victory in Iraq.
The only intelligent American policy is to leverage the remaining influence we have in Iraq and make the best deal we can before we lose all power to affect events.
The Republican Party, which is pinning its electoral hopes on bare chested appeals to American chauvinsm, is in no position to offer anything constructive.
The Republicans remain pollyannishly optimistic in their assessments of events in Iraq and childishly naive in their endless preoccupation with military force.
One can only hope that the Democrats will not become faint hearted and cave in to Republican bullying, and fight the election by advocating a realistic foreign policy.
Both U.S. and British forces have the airpower and firepower, and are in active support of al-Maliki's forces.
al-Sadr's ceasefire was what brought the casualty numbers down markedly during the 'surge' period, but the 'surge' itself had nothing to do with the Shia areas in the South. We acted as though this problem did not exist, and instead magnified the role of al Qaeda in the 'violence totals', blaming them for EVERY act of violence. Now that the cease-fire seems to have broken down, the real underlying problems in Iraq are once again visible. The Shia are battling for power between themselves. The Sunni are complaining that the U.S. wants to stop paying them, since the problems have moved from Baghdad to the North. The Parliament is all over the place, when not ducking for cover.
al Qaeda will simply hunker down until they get the opportunity to act again - that's why in the earlier strategy we occupied areas; only to lose them once U.S. forces withdrew. That's because we did not have enough troops to hold all of the areas at once. Between the training of the Iraqi Army and the surge increase, finally we were able to leave forces behind to hold areas, and also pay off the Sunni to battle al Qaeda, who the Sunni resented fully by this time. We also constructed walled enclaves around Sunni areas to physically keep enemies (al Qaeda or Shia) out.
The Iraqi Army is divided up into units along sectarian lines, and Shiite units are doing al-Maliki's work in the South (Basra). Some are defecting to the Shia militias, and even handing over weapons. The Iranians are supplying better weapons to their Shia allies than the Iraqi Army has; so U.S. airpower and marines are being used to back up al-Maliki's forces.
While the theory of building up the Iraqi Army to become self-sufficient looks good on paper, getting to the point of having an Army with 'first loyalty' to the central government, and well-equipped and well-trained enough to protect the people on its own, is years away from happening.
The problem, as it always will be, is political and sectarian. Saddam succeeded for decades by having a strong Sunni army to hold the majority Shiite population in check; and it was U.S. policy to have that situation in place. Bremer dismissed that Army, and they became the roots of the Sunni insurgency, and we've not replaced the stabilizing factor that a strong Iraqi Army was for all of those years.
Sometimes you replace a tyrant; and without good planning you eventually get chaos.
Bring our troops home. Let God sort 'em out.
Don't hurt me I givy up.
spfool has it's thumb right in his place to solve the problem. You should be an advisor to your beloved presiden.
...what do I give a crap if these chuckleheads want to kill each other? Why should the USA be the supernanny?
What Bush and Rumsfeld did was not the work of a supernanny but rather one of the most stupid acts in the history of the USA,it was the consequence of a carefully crafted campaign to tie Al Quaida to Iraq.And look what happened ,they managed to provoke it .Don't blame the Iraqi's ,they are the prime victims of all this .
..they were victims when Saddam's Sunnis' oppressed them. Then, libnazis groused for 9 years that we needed to intervene.
Hillary, and Bill, backed the play!
We cut Saddam loose, and now...they are victims again.
Who's victimizing them now??? Certainly not the USA. These chuckleheads are victimizing their own folks.
I have the feeling thses folks are going to be doing this in another 100 years.
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StupidIraqiMar 28th, 2008 - 13:58:32
We are so stupid. Why can't we live together in peace like civilized people ? Sadr is the most uncivil of us all !
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