In meetings all day so I can only post some interesting stories from Iraq. First off is some good news about the general security situation in Iraq. Even though there is fighting between the Iraqi government and the rebellious Mahdi Army and cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, much of the rest of Iraq must be fairly quiet (for now) since people continue to return to their homes in droves:

Once people are convinced that security is good in their area, they come back,” said Bailey, who is with 401st Civil Affairs Battalion, attached to 3rd Infantry Division. “If they own a business, they re-open their business, which helps the economy.”

Out of the approximate 18,700 Iraqis who left their homes, it is estimated that 10,450 have returned, according to MND-C records.

Humanitarian aid provided by MND-C, the United Nations and the Iraqi government has been one method of reintegrating the newly returned citizens, Bailey said.

That equates to a 56% return rate which is pretty good, at least heading in the right direction. The migration of people in and out of areas is a good indicator of the security situation.

These next two stories have to be read together to appreciate the ridiculous nature of Mahdi Army’s claims and how a gullible SurrenderMedia buys into their propaganda. The first story highlights how the current fight between Sadr’s Mahdi Army and the Iraq government was initiated by the Mahdi Army attacks on the central government itself:

Almost 700 rockets and mortar rounds were fired from various locations in Baghdad in the past month, 114 of which hit at the highly fortified Green Zone, a US commander said on Wednesday.

Colonel Allen Batschelet said that a total of 697 rockets and mortar bombs were fired in the Iraqi capital between March 23 and April 20.

Of these 114 hit the Green Zone, also known as the International Zone (IZ), where the Iraqi government and US embassy are based, he said.

“Eighty-two percent of the rockets and mortars that hit the IZ originated from Sadr City,” said Batschelet.

Everyone must recognize the right of the elected government of Iraq to defend itself from external and internal threats. The crackdown on the Mahdi Army was a response to attacks by the Mahdi’s on the seat of government. Which makes this next story about the idiotic claims from a Sadr spokesman all the more egregious:

Speaking to Alalam TV Tuesday, bloc’s foreign affairs chief, Sheikh Hasan al-Zarqani called Iraq’s situation as calamitous and expressed regret on world’s silence on the US forces’ airstrikes which left several people dead in recent days.

“Iraqis suffer a calamitous situation but World bodies have drawn silence on the barbaric and brutal attacks against Iraqi people,” al-Zarqani said.

…

The official said that Sadr bloc tries to make peace in Iraq using all means possible, stressing that, “everyone is aware of the steps we have taken in giving peace a chance, including halting all military operations of our al-Mahdi army.”

“Al-Mahdi army is not a militant group and it fights against occupying forces not the government.”

You have to pretty damn brain dead to buy that line – but apparently brain deadness is rampant in the SurrenderMedia who fail to note where the fighting started – and it was not with Maliki’s crack down in Basra.

And what has to be one of the most depraved stories of the day it seems the Mahdi Army is killing women for violating their Islamo Fascist edicts (since women are seen as property in the minds of these thugs):

Residents of a western Baghdad neighbourhood have said militant groups in the area are hunting down women and killing them, and have appealed to parliament to do something, a member of parliament (MP) said on 22 April.

“Over the past six months 15 women were killed in al-Salam neighbourhood for religious reasons or because they had criticised the militants, or because of their previous affiliation to the Baath Party [disbanded party of ousted President Saddam Hussein],” MP Safia al-Suhail told IRIN.

Al-Suhail, who is also a woman activist, said the latest incident occurred in the past 10 days when gunmen shot dead a woman in front of her house because she had criticised the militants.

It is hard to fathom how liberals can keep siding with the enemies of America and Iraq, cheering each depraved action as a sign America is evil, when you see how these animals actually express their religious beliefs. America is on the right side in this war, and is winning. We are just cleaning out the last parts of the cesspool so Iraq can finally get on the path to its new future.

And we need to recognize who is in the cesspool, since they do a great job of identifying themselves with their public declarations. al-Qaeda still sees Iraq as the main front in the war on the West – as stated by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaedas co-leader:

CAIRO: Osama bin Laden’s chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has warned that Al-Qaeda still has plans to target Western countries involved in the Iraq war.

…

Asked by one follower if the terror group still had plans to attack Western countries that participated in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the subsequent war, he said: “My answer is yes! We think any country that joined an aggression on Muslims must be deterred.”

Why Hillary and Obama want to make Zawahiri’s dreams come true and run from Iraq is beyond me. But the fact is they have promised to take actions that are in common cause with al-Qaeda by withdrawing precipitously from Iraq, and in the end all we need to understand is we don’t need leaders who will strengthen AQs hand by ceding the battle on a front we initiated.