April 17, 2008
UH-OH, SOUNDS LIKE TREASON...:
Differences emerge in US and Iraqi strategies for al-Sadr (ROBERT H. REID, 4/15/08, AP)
Differences have emerged between the U.S. and Iraq on how to deal with Shiite militant Muqtada al-Sadr, with the Americans appearing more willing than the Shiite-led government to concede a legitimate political role to the anti-U.S. cleric.The gap appeared after fighting broke out last month between Iraqi forces and al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in Basra. Clashes quickly spread to Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi troops are still confronting Shiite militiamen in the Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City.
Throughout the fighting, U.S. commanders have avoided publicly identifying al-Sadr or his Mahdi Army as their adversary, instead referring to the Shiite militants as "special groups" or simply "criminals."
Moreover, top American officials have left the door open for al-Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran, to maintain a significant role in Iraqi politics.
Last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates described al-Sadr as "a significant political figure," adding that the Americans wanted to see him "work within the political process."
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, went even further, telling reporters that al-Sadr's political movement was a major force that should be "to varying degrees, accommodated."
Don't they read the neocons?
MORE:
Al-Sadr Tightens the Screws (MARK KUKIS, 4/15/08, TIME)
Sadr's Mahdi Army has effectively stopped an advance by U.S. and Iraqi forces into its strongholds in Baghdad and Basra after weeks of fighting. On Monday Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said American troops operating at the edge of Sadr City in support of Iraqi troops would not press deeper into the area. That means any decisive push into the heart of the Mahdi Army stronghold in east Baghdad would be left to Iraqi security forces, which so far have been unable to deal any meaningful blows against the militia.The conflict in Sadr City remained stalemated Tuesday. There were no reports of serious fighting, but Iraqi government forces clung to their foothold in the area by manning checkpoints. "The city still under siege," said Sadr City resident Ghofran al-Saidi, a member of parliament loyal to the cleric. "The Iraqi troops stopped me twice from going out although I told them who I am."
Sadr's political power appears to be growing even as the crisis wears on. A new report by Refugees International says the Mahdi Army ranks are swelling with new recruits drawn from internally displaced people who've gotten aid from the militia. "Displaced men have joined armed groups," said the report, which put the number of internally displaced people in Iraq at 2.7 million. "As a result of the vacuum created by the failure of both the Iraqi government and the international community to act in a timely and adequate manner, non-state actors play a major role in providing assistance to vulnerable Iraqis. Militias of all denominations are improving their local base of support by providing social services in the neighborhoods and towns they control. Through a 'Hizballah-like' scheme, the Shi'ite Sadrist movement has established itself as the main service provider in the country."
The conspiracy has grown so vast that no news source can be trusted! Posted by Orrin Judd at April 17, 2008 12:09 PM
Sooner or later, the neocons will no longer own this Iraq thing, and this Mookie/Maliki penis-measuring contest will float into the ether like every other discussion about Iraq.
Posted by: Brad S at April 17, 2008 12:57 PMMookie can have a political role, but he can't have a private army.
Posted by: PapayaSF at April 17, 2008 1:27 PMIt's not private. It's public. He is the state in Sadr City.
Posted by: oj at April 17, 2008 2:33 PMPretty slick of him, to rule the city that bears his name from hundreds of miles away. That isn't sustainable.
Posted by: ratbert at April 17, 2008 2:59 PMNo, that's why he's been fast-tracked for Ayatollahhood.
Posted by: oj at April 17, 2008 5:54 PMI suspect his utility as a political puppet has more to do with his studies at Ruhollah U. than anything else.
al-Hakim and a few other Iraqi Shi'ites aren't going to toe Mookie's line, particularly because they know Iran is behind him. They don't want a Khomeini in their midst, politically or theologically.
Posted by: ratbert at April 17, 2008 6:14 PMThe fact is Mookie is only one of many Iraqi Shia leaders jockeying for power, though oj for some reason believes he is the dominant force among the Shia.
In reality, he in particular seems to be losing power rather than gaining it.
And, per the social services stuff, if Mookie dominated the Basra, he did a very poor job indeed of providing anything to the people. From what I've read the city was a diaster when the Iraqi army moved in but has dramatically improved.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at April 17, 2008 8:07 PMHardly the dominant force or he'd have won elections.
The pivotal figure in making the surge work, a central figure in Baghdad, and a future religious force.
Posted by: oj at April 17, 2008 10:13 PMExactly, they want Khamenei.
Posted by: oj at April 17, 2008 10:16 PMLooks like he's losing the southern quarter of his "state". Just another step in his march to victory, right?
Posted by: PapayaSF at April 17, 2008 10:52 PMIn this morning's edition, USA Today ran the first article I have seen that dropped the media ambivalence on this issue, clearly saying that Basra was now on track to improve the way that many Sunni areas have. The equation of Mookie's goons with Al Qaeda may have been unintentional, but it was there. And while Maliki was chided for acting hastily, he was lauded for finding room to manuever in Shi'ite areas (as has happened with the Sunni).
If Mook ever returns to Iraq, it won't be like Khomeini coming home from Paris. It will be in the dead of night, and he won't be advertising his headquarters. And if the political situation in Iraq leaps forward, he may never return. It's one thing to be seen as a rock against the Sunni oppressor (Saddam or Zarqawi), it's quite another to be a troglodyte firebrand in a fledgling democracy (with questionable ties to some nasty foreigners).
Posted by: ratbert at April 17, 2008 11:21 PMThe wall is another admission. It comes down the day we leave, whether cause or effect.
Posted by: oj at April 18, 2008 5:40 AMMaliki had no room to manuever, which is why we had to go in and save his bacon.
Posted by: oj at April 18, 2008 5:42 AMMookie was only one of the many Shia leaders in Baghdad and elsewhere who helped the surge succeed.
The others would seem to have recognized their victory and worked with the Shia gvt rather than against it.
As such, and given his lack of success as a political leader, which even oj acknowledges, it's doubtful he blunders his way into becoming a signficant religious leader.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at April 18, 2008 9:36 AMThe Shi'a government was the problem.
Posted by: oj at April 18, 2008 3:12 PMI detect a raging case of PSSSS: post-surge Shi'a strongman syndrome. Of course, the man-crush could have started the first time Mookie's mug was widely broadcast (back after he murdered al-Khoie, in 2003). Or when it was clear that Mook was an Iranian wild-card.
Posted by: ratbert at April 18, 2008 3:59 PM