When Danger Reared Its Ugly Head
by tristero
Look at it from their standpoint. The article states, "The White House has conditioned further withdrawals of American troops on the readiness of the Iraqi military and police." Therefore, why would any Iraqi with an ounce of commonsense put himself in a position to get killed as long as the US is willing to have its own soldiers die instead (and expend billions of dollars in high tech bang bang)? I'm not being snarky, it simply stands to reason:More than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts during the inconclusive assault against Shiite militias in Basra last week, a senior Iraqi government official said Thursday. Iraqi military officials said the group included dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle.
And so, Maliki called for reinforcements, exclusively from Shiite tribes, an action which, according to the article, angered Sunnis willing to fight. I guess Maliki didn't get St. John McCain's memo to stop the bullshit. But in case you think the current decrease in violence is a hopeful sign:Even as officials described problems with the planning and performance of the Iraqi forces during the Basra operation, signs emerged Wednesday that tensions with Moktada al-Sadr, the radical cleric who leads the Mahdi Army militia, could flare up again. Mr. Sadr, who asked his followers to stop fighting on Sunday, called Thursday for a million Iraqis to march to the Shiite holy city of Najaf next week to protest what he called the American occupation. He also issued a veiled threat against Mr. Maliki’s forces, whom he accused of violating the terms of an agreement with the Iraqi government to stand down.
Don't you just love that hedge, "what he called the American occupation?" Anyway, in case you were wondering, fighting hasn't completely stopped.
One more thing, something the article, for some strange reason doesn't mention. Seems like an Iranian general played the key role in negotiating whatever ceasefire there may be. As Juan Cole observed, Bush has been "reduced to irrelevancy in Iraq" while Iran's influence has been strengthened. Who could possibly have predicted?
And you know what galls? Not a single prominent member of the gang that advocated and perpetrated the unspeakable set of multiple war crimes known as the Bush/Iraq war will ever go to trial, let alone see the inside of a jail cell. Not Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfeld. Not Perle, Wolfowitz, or Feith. Even worse, there is a very real chance that the truly insane course upon which the United States is headed will continue. Add the Myth Of St. John McCain to an enthusiastic propensity amongst Republicans to stuff ballot boxes, stir in a deeply divided Democratic party no matter how the primaries turn out, finally, sprinkle a huge amount of GOP fear that even worse Bush administration horrors will come out if they lose, and the country is cooking up an unbelievably rancid election battle. The 2008 Presidential will redefine the term "hard-fought."
It is going to be an interesting year.