Mar 28 2008

Taking Out The Islamo Fascists

The move in Iraq to take out the Shiite Militias is an interesting development. On the one hand President Bush is correct that the destruction of al-Qaeda as a force in Iraq has given Maliki’s government to move onto the next problem – the Shiite Militia’s under Moqtada Sadr’s control. If successful Iraq will have defeated its too largest internal threats. But this is the dicier of the two problems because, unlike al-Qaeda which has been led by foreigners and used foreign suicide bombers to create an uprising against it in Iraq, it is not clear how much support Sadr has in Iraq. My guess is he has very little, which is why he has been holding back with a cease fire right now. And the Iraqi security forces are now strong enough (especially with allied air support), to deal some major blows to the Militias. And this is what we are seeing:

Separately, U.S.-led coalition planes dropped bombs on Shiite militia positions overnight in the southern city of Basra, a British military spokesman said.

British forces spokesman Maj. Tom Holloway said the aircraft opened fire twice on militia targets.

“The first one was a building which had a large amount of militia groups inside and around it, and the second strike was on enemy mortar team, which was shelling one of the Iraqi army positions,” Holloway said on CNN’s “American Morning.”

The British military said the firings were the first by coalition forces since the Iraqi army launched an operation Tuesday in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city.

At least 120 militia fighters have been killed and 240 wounded in Basra since the military operation started, said an Iraqi Defense Ministry official on condition of anonymity.

Iraq’s parliament called a special session for Friday to address the crisis.

This is a great opportunity for the Iraq government and parliament to determine its future. Speculating again, I believe they will see this through since it is highly unlikely Maliki moved without gaining support ahead of time. And while the hand-wringers will latch onto every move as a sign of the pending doom of Iraq they have been predicting – but not seeing – for five years, the fact is Maliki is applying a good mix of big stick and carrots to give Sadr an opportunity to relent or have his forces decimated:

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office says the government has given residents of the southern city of Basra until April 8 to turn over “heavy and medium-size weapons” in return for a reward.

Government adviser Sadiq al-Rikabi says the deadline is separate from a three-day ultimatum for gunmen to surrender their arms and renounce violence or face harsher measures. That expires later Friday.

The move instead appears to be aimed at noncombatants who may have weapons like machine-guns and grenade launchers either for smuggling purposes or to sell to militants or criminal gangs.

If Iraq succeeds, as I said, then the two largest threats to peace and security will have been dealt with. Only time will tell, but I would not bet against Iraq at this point in time. It has come too far, fought through too many hurdles to lose all of it now. And interestingly enough, the country as whole is not rising up in defiance – just the militias.

In Pakistan the fighting is still escalating in many areas. I see this as the ‘lancing the boil’ phase where those who strive through violence to gain ground are going to run into those looking to end the fighting and take out the miscreants. For example, al-Qaeda and radical elements of the Taliban are starting to target the Pakistani anti-terrorist forces:

Two Pakistani intelligence agents involved in tracking al-Qaeda suspects have been shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi, police say.
Inspector Mohammad Ibrahim and his deputy, Fazlur Rahman, were employees of Pakistan’s main civilian spy agency.

The men were attacked late on Thursday at a car showroom in a commercial area.

If government security forces find themselves the targets if Islamo Fascists they will retaliate and redouble their efforts:

Lahore, Mar 28: Police have arrested two terrorists who were allegedly involved in recent twin suicide bombings in the city and seized a suicide jacket and a huge cache of explosives from their possession.

Shehzad was living in a rented house where his accomplices visited him to discuss future attacks. He had also sheltered some suicide bombers in his house. Hussain ran a phone booth where suicide bombers and other extremists had allegedly met him.

Among the items seized from the two men were 60 detonators, over 60 packs of explosive powder and a suicide jacket.

I doubt the Pakistani public appreciates such a large arms cache being housed amongst their families and neighborhoods. I still am of the opinion the desire for peace by the general public in Pakistan will drive the people there to realize the terrorists in their midsts are the source of all their problems, and could begin to give the government the support they need to take the fight to the source of all the problems.

In fact, there are signs, as there have been for months, that there is a lot of infighting between the tribes that live in the tribal areas of Pakistan. In fact, there has been a lot of sectarian fighting between Shiites and Sunnis in the region:

Sectarian violence between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims has intensified in a tribal region of northwest Pakistan, with at least 22 people reportedly killed in gunbattles, a senior official said.

“Dead bodies are lying inside houses and in fields,” said Qalb-e-Hassan, a newly elected provincial legislator from Kohat town.

Fighting overnight was concentrated in three villages of Kohat district of North West Frontier Province.

The latest clashes, between men from the Mishti and Kachai tribes, brought the toll to more than 50 in an outbreak of sectarian violence that began last week.

While Kohat is plagued with sectarian unrest, al Qaeda-linked militants have unleashed a wave of violence on the rest of Pakistan. Nearly 600 people have been killed since the start of the year, many of them victims of suicide attacks.

It is only a matter of time, in my opinion, before Pakistan tires of these murderous thugs and start to realize the fighting is not due to America, but due to the thugs they have allowed to run amok in their country.

In case you are wondering, things are also going badly for the terrorists in Afghanistan as well. The Taliban are making bold predictions that they will take down the government there, which I seriously doubt they can pull off. What it will end up being is more jihadis marching into the jaws of the allied and Afghan security forces, demonstrating again their impotence against the new order – which is allied to the West.

One final note of concern closer to home as the US sees an increased risk from home grown terrorists who still want to bring Jihad to our shores:

Law enforcement officials and security experts are warning against the threat of homegrown terrorism as several cases involving alleged American jihadists enter the courts.

“The public is getting complacent,” New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly tells FOX News. Kelly, who was the police commissioner during the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, has developed a task force of counterterrorism officers trained to spot jihadists.

Several terror-related cases now in the courts highlight this need for continued vigilance, experts say.

— In Florida, the retrial of six of the “Liberty City Seven” is coming to a close. The group members, who allegedly plotted to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago and swore allegiance to Al Qaeda on a secret FBI surveillance tape, were arrested in June 2006. Their first trial ended in a not-guilty verdict for one defendant and a mistrial for the other six.

— In Washington state, the murder trial has begun for Pakistani-American Naveed Haq, who is accused of opening fire in Seattle’s Jewish Federation Building in July 2006, killing one woman and wounding five others. Haq allegedly said he was mad at the Jews and how they are running the country.

Two other cases are to enter court next month.

— In Michigan, a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Houssein Zorkot, a Lebanese-born medical student at Wayne State University in Detroit who posted on his Web site in September 2007 that he was launching a personal jihad. He was arrested that same day in a nearby park, wearing camouflage paint and holding a loaded AK-47.

— In South Carolina a trial is set for Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed, two University of South Florida students who officials say had pipe bombs in their car when they were caught speeding near the Goose Creek weapons base.

At a minimum these trials will remind America that the dearth of attacks on America since 9-11 is not because the terrorists are not dedicated to pull off another attack, but because of the diligence of our security efforts – which Democrats keep claiming we don’t need anymore. The delusions of the left will be in stark contrasts to the realities of terrorism that will be on trial for the coming months.

5 responses so far

5 Responses to “Taking Out The Islamo Fascists”

  1. truthhard2take says:

    Strata’s favorite group of militias attempting to take out those
    not as representative in what passes for the Iraqi government.
    AJ, Maliki conferred with Cheney shortly before the gambit–is this
    what you mean by “gaining support” (or taking orders) prior?
    You guess al Sadr has “very little” support in Iraq, but you fail to mention the widespread peaceful and not so peaceful reactions
    to Maliki’s move in many parts of Iraq. Maybe he has more support
    than Maliki.

  2. truthhard2take says:

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3635838.ece

    Al Sadr’s men defect from Maliki’s militia.

  3. truthhard2take says:

    Here’s what Pat Lang has to say:

    My problem with the present course of events is the ruthlessness of the propaganda campaign being successfully waged by the Bush Administration. The president has succeeded in “framing” the discussion in such a way that Maliki and his assembly of Badr Corps militias are represented as being the equivalent of George Washington suppressing the Whiskey Rebellion. The noble Maliki is portrayed as motivated by a selfless desire for “national” unity. The MSM has re-transmitted that idea without serious question.
    In fact he [Maliki] is merely acting on behalf of an emerging alignment of pro-Iranian forces in Iraq that have successfully pulled the wool over American eyes…..
    ….That brings up the inevitability of heavy US involvement in this suppression of the “Whiskey Rebellion.” It’s just a matter of time.
    McCain must fear that terribly.”

  4. truthhard2take says:

    on the Iraq War’s battle against “Islamo-fascists.”

    Has there ever in the history of man been a policy more incoherent than this one? We back a government that is essentially a proxy of our regional arch-enemy, Iran. Our Sunni “Awakening” allies, largely composed of the Baathists we removed from power in the first place, hate this government and would love to overthrow it. Our Kurdish allies are composed of two decidedly undemocratic rival mafias, at least one of which is quite friendly to our enemy Iran, and at least one of which is carrying on a low-level war with our ally Turkey. Meanwhile, the most popular political movement in the country shares our stated goal of a democratic, unified Iraq and therefore must be crushed.

    Caligula never instituted a policy so self-destructive and ludicrous. Our country is being run by idiots of millenial proportions.

    commentor on Juan Cole today. said it better than me.

  5. VinceP1974 says:

    AJ: Hear anything about this?

    Saudis Prepare For “Sudden Nuclear Hazards” After Cheney Visit
    Empire Burlesque ^ | March 23, 2008 | Chris Floyd

    Posted on 03/29/2008 3:21:09 PM CDT by Fennie

    Last Friday, Dick Cheney was in Saudi Arabia for high-level meetings with the Saudi king and his ministers. On Saturday, it was revealed that the Saudi Shura Council — the elite group that implements the decisions of the autocratic inner circle — is preparing “national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts warnings of possible attacks on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactors,” one of the kingdom’s leading newspapers, Okaz, reports. The German-based dpa news service relayed the paper’s story.

    Simple prudence — or ominous timing? We noted here last week that an American attack on Iran was far more likely — and more imminent — than most people suspect. We pointed to the mountain of evidence for this case gathered by scholar William R. Polk, one of the top aides to John Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and to other indicators of impending war. The story by Okaz — which would not have appeared in the tightly controlled dictatorship without approval from the top — is yet another, very weighty piece of evidence laid in the scales toward a new, horrendous conflict…