This is becoming ridiculous. Even the left-wing press does not deny that these defections amount to about 4 % of the total number of Iraqi troops that engaged in the fight. And the defections came mainly from a very new and untested unit. Mookie did not win. Winners don't pull their army from the battlefield.

If the Shi'a militias are acting as law unto themselves, they must go. Especially in areas like Basra, where the Sunni (and Al Qaeda) are irrelevant.

If the fight's against the Sunni, why is Mookie fighting against Maliki, another Shi'ite, who leads an elected government dominated by Shi'ites? This is just warlordism on Mookie's part, and I see no reason the central government should tolerate it.

Because Maliki attacked. There is no central government. There is no Iraq.

"BAGHDAD (AP) - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's faltering crackdown on Shiite militants has won the backing of Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties that fear both the powerful sectarian militias and the effects of failure on Iraq's fragile government. The emergence of a common cause could help bridge Iraq's political rifts. The head of the Kurdish self-ruled region, Massoud Barzani, has offered Kurdish troops to help fight anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. More significantly, Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi signed off on a statement by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and the Shiite vice president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, expressing support for the crackdown in the oil-rich southern city of Basra..."

Thanks, Mook!!

Peter's right - OJ flogging of this is becoming ridiculous.

Becoming?

If there is no Iraq, then what does it matter who runs it? Or are you advocating that Iran simply annex it?

Peter's right. The side that retreated lost.

If we're going to kill Shi'ites for the Sunni we may as well have left Saddam in power.

What do Persians have to do with Iraq?

With what?

No, in this case some Shi'a were killed for other Shi'a. And it will continue until the lawless are assimilated or destroyed, whether they work for Mookie or someone else.

You really must apply for that opening at Ruhollah U. as a professor of Shi'ite sociology.

It would be quite a coup for them.

Where is it? Mookie is the one attending seminary, to train as al-Sistani's successor, not Maliki.

Your inability to discern immorality among the Shi'a is quite striking.

After murdering Khoie, I doubt if Mookie is going succeed Sistani. And al-Hakim would not approve of the head of the JAM taking over as spiritual "boss" (which is exactly what Mookie would be). Not a leader, not an inspiration, but a 'boss', a capo, a don, a goon, whatever.

Yes, the Don.