al Sadr? Finally?
Here is a guy who has been a rabble-rousing threat since he was first heard from, fomenting terror and violence in Iraq against both the US and Allied forces as well as the Sunnis. All this time it would have been a snap to take him out but Nooooo, we had better things to do. Now that he has a large army, and occupies a major portion of Baghdad as his stronghold, now we’re going after him. Real smart.
Ah well, better late then never. I winnowed this report out of Reuters, Masters Of Photo Deception, so I hope rather than trust in its accuracy:
“BAGHDAD (Reuters) – U.S.-led forces are likely to launch a limited New Year offensive against Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia, blamed for sectarian death squad killings, senior Iraqi officials say. The Pentagon, in a report last month, described Mehdi Army militias as the biggest threat to Iraq’s security and diplomats say Washington is impatient to confront them. Several officials in the Shi’ite political parties that dominate Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s unity government also say they are losing patience with Sadr’s supporters and predict more raids like last week’s joint U.S.-Iraqi operation in which a senior Sadr aide was killed.
“There will be limited and targeted operations against members of the Mehdi Army,” a senior Shi’ite official told Reuters. “The ground is full of surprises but we think around January 5 there will be some operations. I can say no more.” ”
al Sadr’s guys in the government, meanwhile, are attempting to be the ones to decide when our troops will leave and they’re pushing for soon. al Sadr wants to take over Iraq and impose another Saddam-type of dictatorship, with Sharia law spooned on top. Naturally, President Al Maliki doesn’t care much for this. He’s been playing a power game with al Sadr, thinking he could control him and is now coming to realize that he was very mistaken and will stop interfering in our efforts against al Sadr and his thugs. Every time we’ve gone into a Shiite section of a city to attack terrorists, the Shiite-dominated government has howled like Hell.
So it looks like another increase in the level of conflict in Iraq is coming up real soon. This being the case, I’m betting on that “surge” (nice spin word for a 2-year troop deployment, huh?) happening.
To a degree, wars do have to be fought reactively. Enemies can make surprise moves. However, historically it’s always been long range planning and foresight that ensured the most likely success. I hope we start doing some of that, soon.
January 3rd, 2007 at 4:37 am
We will probably have to ask Maliki’s permission first. You know he had a hissy fit the last time we went after a Mahdi Army member. You are right we should have killed that guy at the very beginning before he got so popular and in the government. Not sure we can take him out now, since he does hold a political office now.
January 3rd, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Our infants, our future…
Education in the Saudi Arabia: video of the state-owned TV IQRA, showing as should be “the ideal education” of a Saudi infant on Jews – shocking!
3 years and half. In that age, the girl already knows to repeat what learned how in the school and at home:
“The Jews are monkeys and pigs. Who said that was our god (Allah), in the Koran. Because… they do not like our prophet Mohammed… he killed someone. ..â€
http://www2.youtube.com/watch?v=u3z-B7L8LQ4
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:37 pm
I REMEMBER GEN ABAZAID SAYING 2 YRS AGO THAT THEY WERE GONNA KILL THIS HEATHEN SON OF A BITCH. WHY HAS,NT IT BEEN DONE YET? SURELY THERE,S A 50 CAL ROUND WITH HIS NAME ON IT SOMEWHERE?
January 4th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
A couple of words stand out about that story.
Limited: Sounds like the same old “PC” type keep the world thinking we are doing something crap.
Jan 5th? Is there a time too? and a place? why not give them some more info while you say no more? Idiocy and incompetence from the top echelon of our leadership.
The people that are running things are the bad guys in Iraq. Until we remove them we are in for the status quo.
Al-Sadr needs to meet Saddam in Hell ASAP, as well as their followers.
January 4th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Limited falls into the same category as Surge. Limited means “for as long as they want to” and Surge means “lots more troops for years to come”.
Yes, I took note of the above as well as the Jan. 5th blurt but if I commented on all the glaring crap in that article, there would be nothing left for anyone else to talk about. The reason al Sadr is still alive and gaining power is because Bush refused the advice of his generals and played politics with al Maliki instead. To quote a line from Jurassic Park, “God I hate that man”.