April 26, 2004
THE AMERICAN WAY OF WAR:
US troops threaten to cross Shia 'red line' to enter Najaf (Patrick Cockburn, 26 April 2004, The Independent)
American troops will enter parts of the holy city of Najaf to crush the radical Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr but will avoid its sacred sites, a US general said yesterday.Shia leaders have warned there will be an explosion of anger among the 15 to 16 million Iraqi Shia if US soldiers enter Najaf, where Imam Ali, the founder of their faith, is buried in a golden-domed shrine.
"We're going to drive this guy [Mr. Sadr] into the dirt," said Brigadier General Mark Hertling, the deputy commander of the 1st Armoured Division. "Either he tells his militia to put down their arms, form a political party and fight with ideas not guns, or he's going to find a lot of them killed."
General Hertling is practically a poster boy for Victor Davis's Hanson's argument about the uniquely liberationist ethos of democratic warriors. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 26, 2004 12:30 PM
Once they realize that we will not be turned away by "holy" cities or by threatedned "explosion of anger" (what have we been fighting up to now, an explosion of annoyance?) the rebels will have far less support. We need to be more ruthless, not less.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at April 26, 2004 6:59 PMAMEN!
Posted by: Oswald Booth Czolgoz at April 26, 2004 8:38 PMAMEN!
Posted by: Oswald Booth Czolgosz at April 26, 2004 8:38 PMWell, yes and no.
Orrin is persuaded that Shiites are Moslems with a difference. I am unpersuaded, and every day that passes leaves me even less persuaded.
However, we're talking religion here, and that brings into play an entirely different structure of response. As we were told daily in Catholic school, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
I don't pretend to know exactly how the invasion of one of those hellholes called "holy cities" will play out, but we know for sure that the so-called moderates don't have a hand to play -- if they did, they'd have played it already -- and we can be pretty sure that the Shiites will resent it.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at April 27, 2004 12:51 AMThe moderates are playing their hand. They need to be seen to not be co-operating with the oppressors (us), but don't mind if we take care of Sadr for them.
Don't let your contempt for the wogs blind you to the possibility they're smarter than you.
Posted by: oj at April 27, 2004 7:43 AM