Apr 13 2008
Iraq Winning War In Mahdi Army
The concocted myth by the SurrenderMedia that the Iraqi crackdown on the Shiia Mahdi Army, headed by Moqtada al-Sadr, was a failure has now been exposed. And far from being a failure this could be the Iraq wars version of the Battle of The Bulge in WW II, where the last gasp of the dying Nazi regime was made before their annihilation, and from which decades of peace took over for war torn Europe that had seen wars for centuries. While not on the same scale as WW II and Europe, the fight against the Mahdi Army probably represents the last viable opposition to the new democratic Iraq, ally to America.
Those who thought the fighting had begun don’t understand how wars are fought. You don’t rush to react, you contain and plan for maximum effect. In this ‘instant satisfaction’ world we live in the idea of actual planning and doing detailed analysis over many days seems to have become a lost art form. Well, not when lives are at stake. So while some may be surprised, many of us are glad to see the battle against the Mahdi Army is finally hitting its stride:
Three weeks after the Iraqi government initiated Operation Knights Assault in Basrah, US and Iraqi forces have squared off against the Mahdi Army daily in the Shia slums of Sadr City. Additional US and Iraqi forces have moved into northeastern Baghdad to prepare for a possible major engagement against the Mahdi Army.
While Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army and the Sadrist political movement, called for his fighters to pull off the streets on March 30, the Mahdi Army has continued to attack US and Iraqi forces in Sadr City and northeastern Baghdad.
…
US and Iraqi forces have begun to shape the battlefield in Sadr City by cordoning off the main entry and exit points, building new check posts, instituting a vehicle ban, conducting a series patrols and humanitarian missions, carrying out targeted raids against Mahdi Army and Special Groups leaders, and providing a blanket of aerial coverage from unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters from US Army air weapons teams.
…
Supporters of Sadr have indicated the offensive so far is eroding the Mahdi Army’s power base. US and Iraqi troops have been operating largely on the edges of Sadr City, but the Sadrists are concerned the forces will push into the heart of the district. “Sadrist officials … had received orders from their headquarters in Najaf to avoid confrontations with Iraqi and US forces unless the Americans try to move deep into Sadr City,” The Associated Press reported.
The Sadrists are also concerned the prolonged offensive will weaken the party and the Mahdi Army. “The officials said the Sadrist leadership was concerned that the ongoing clashes were turning into a war of attrition that was weakening the movement and undermining support within its Shiite power base,” the AP reported.
When Sadrists are concerned Sadr is destroying the movement then all the hand-wringing in DC and NYC news rooms means nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sadr City may be heart of the Mahdi Army. My guess is this is the case given the amount of effort being put into stamping out the last big threat to Maliki’s government and this fall’s elections. Elections the Sadrists can only participate in if they abandon the Mahdi Army:
Iraq’s cabinet has agreed on a draft of a law governing provincial elections to be held later this year and will now submit it for approval to parliament, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Sunday.
…
Dabbagh repeated government threats that groups with armed militia would be barred from standing in the poll, a measure that followers of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr say has been unfairly aimed against them.
Oh, life is so unfair isn’t it? And why is the Mahdi Army and their Sadrist puppet masters losing support? They act and kill like al-Qaeda butchers, that’s why:
Confessions from Shiite militiamen led Saturday to the discovery of 15 more bodies dumped in mass graves south of Baghdad, officials said — the second such find this week.
Women shrouded in black and holding family photos rushed to the muddy field in Mahmoudiya in hopes of finding missing loved ones as new information emerges on past sectarian bloodletting.
The grisly discovery came two days after the Iraqi troops found the remains of 30 people believed to have been killed more than a year ago buried in three abandoned houses elsewhere in the area.
It is hard to claim the moral high ground when you are slaughtering your Arab Muslim neighbors. Especially when linked to the Persian regime in Tehran known for its ethnic cleansing against Arabs. Is anyone outside the brain-dead SurrenderMedia news rooms surprised that a country of Arab Muslims would oppose those who slaughter their own kind in league with their ancient enemies? And as the Mahdi Army is decimated more and more links to carnage and the Iranians is going to come out. Just check how the Sadrists/Mahdi are fairing in Basra:
Iraqi security forces detained on Sunday five aides to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the city of Basra, some 550 kilometres south of Baghdad, Sadrist sources said.
Hareth al-Azari, Shiite Sadrists, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Iraqi security forces arrested five Sadrists in different areas in Basra.…
Meanwhile, Mohamed Howaidy, an Iraqi army personnel, told dpa that security forces were carrying out search operations for banned weapons in the districts of Hayaniya and Hussein.
He said that large numbers of weapons have been confiscated and scores of illegal militants have been detained.Earlier, Iraqi defence minister said that forces found an Iranian weapon cache and a number of explosives in Basra, the Iraqi al-Sabah newspaper said.
This is just the beginning of what could be weeks of similar stories tying Iranians to mass graves in Iraq. This is an excuse for the US to bomb Iran (though it is a worthy one). It is to remind Iraqi Shiites why they must rise up against Sadr and his Mahdi-Iranian puppets and support their own elected government. And Maliki has made it clear, he is going all the way on this one:
Iraqi forces will battle militiamen in Sadr City relentlessly until the sprawling Shiite district of east Baghdad has been cleared of gunmen, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh vowed on Sunday.
“We will continue until we secure Sadr City. We will not come out, we will not give up until the people of Sadr City have a normal life,” Dabbagh told AFP.
“(The security forces) will do what they have to do to secure the area. I can’t tell you how many days or how many months but they will not come out until they have secured Sadr City.”
Raging battles between US and Iraqi forces and Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have killed around 80 people in the impoverished township since Sunday last week, and the army has warned the streets are littered with booby-traps laid by gunmen.
This is a fight to the end. In fact, Maliki is firm that failure is not an option, and those who fail to do their job for their country can go back on the unemployment lines:
The Iraqi government has dismissed about 1,300 soldiers and policemen who deserted or refused to fight during last month’s offensive against Shiite militias and criminal gangs in Basra, officials said Sunday.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said 921 police and soldiers were fired in Basra. They included 37 senior police officers ranging in rank from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general.
The others were dismissed in Kut, one of the Shiite cities where the fight had spread.
These are some of the best jobs in the country pay and prestige wise. And now those people who failed their oaths to their country are on the street. This is a fight Maliki is pulling all the stops out to win.
Thankfully the Surrendercrats and their SurrenderMedia allies have no opportunities or avenues to stop what will happen from happening. We are in, Maliki is in, and all Sadr and his Mahdi can do is die for the cause. And it seems the Mahdi have chosen to go down fighting, for whatever reason (my guess is they are protecting their Iranian puppet masters). Many inside the Mahdi movement want to see the Mad Mullahs take over Iraq, something most Iraqis would fight to the death to avoid. Arabs living under Persian rulers? Only some one like Sadr and his followers would find that appealing – for them. They would be the new top Arabs in that mix. And this is not hard for Iraqis to figure out (even though it seems impossible for western journalists and a lot of other liberals to grasp).
The Iraqis are winning the war with the Mahdis. And soon there will be no more serious threats to our new allies in the Middle East. You can see it happening already in the areas of security and oil production, signs that Iraq is making its debut into the free world of the 21st century. Once the Mahdi are gone the way of al-Qaeda the history books will take it from there.
Hello AJ,
There’s a link from http://patdollard.com to an Arab newspaper
that reports Mooky was told to leave Iran two days ago and
is now back in Najaf.
Seems Iran is getting a bit worried, not too long until
November 5th.
Looks like they decided Mooky isn’t of any further use to them.
Haven’t read Oren’s book yet, VinceP. Been thru Both in One Trench twice, and still refer to it often. Great expose of the way jihad relates to Arab govt’s and each other. Still have to finish Ghost Wars and Saddam’s Secrets (in progress simultaneously). And waiting in the wings is Badansky’s The Secret History of the Iraq War.
Oh yeah, there’s that pesky “making a living” getting in my way too….
You recommend it, I take it? Mostly good reviews on Amazon.
http://counterpunch.org/patrick04142008.html
Be careful,what you wish for, side-taking warmongers.
Mata
“You don’t enter the game to play, you don’t play”
Oh the Israeli stooge Badansky might tell you otherwise, wanting America to fight Israel’s wars, particularly since it lost the last one,
http://counterpunch.org/shahid04142008.html
but most experts say the ultimate Iraqi government will look very little like the one not in power now.
From a review of Bodansky’s book on binLaden:
Bin Laden is a “cog,” Bodansky explains, because there is no such thing as an independent terrorist network capable of significant “spectacular” attacks. “Major terrorist operations,” he writes, “are conducted by agencies of states in pursuit of the long-term, strategic interests of the controlling and sponsoring states.” Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Bodansky has given numerous interviews in which he maintains that bin Laden “hasn’t got a penny” and that attention should be paid to the “states” that are footing the bill for his activities.
It’s clear from reading “Bin Laden” that the state Bodansky considers to be the primary culprit is Iran, and that his book is as much an indictment of that nation as of bin Laden himself. In order to provide deniability, the terrorism “controlled and sponsored by Iran” is “run via Sudan under the leadership of Sheikh al-Turabi.” If there’s a Professor Moriarty in Bodansky’s tale, it’s Turabi, the spiritual leader and de facto head of Sudan, a baby-faced cleric whose excellent English and cultured manner have lately made him a fixture in TV documentaries about militant Islamism. (“Islamism” — rather than “Islamic fundamentalism” — is the preferred term to use when referring to what’s essentially political extremism tied to religious ideology.)
Many experts on Islamist movements name Turabi as a significant coordinator of international terrorism, but this “Iran’s behind it all” scenario is dicier, which brings up the question of Bodansky himself. A former editor of the Israeli Air Force’s official magazine, he is hardly unbiased. He is reportedly an associate of superhawk Richard Perle, a former Reagan administration assistant defense secretary; the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Association has gone so far as to suggest that he is an Israeli intelligence agent who helped run convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. This is another accusation that should be taken with a grain of salt, but one that gives a sense of how tricky this terrain can be. (Israel and Iran, of course, are implacable enemies: Iran set up and supports the radical Hezbollah organization, which is based in Lebanon and has battled the Israelis for years. Bodansky asserts that bin Laden plays a leading role in an Iranian-led group called Hezbollah International, which he asserts was established in 1996 at a terrorist summit to promote and coordinate terrorist activities around the world.)
http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/007288.html
experts like Hounsell who correctly says America has built another
“failed state.”
Hounsell’s flaw is that he just assumes that the goal is an Iraq at peace with it’s neighbors. There will be no peace until the terrorist backing states of Syria and Iran are destroyed or ushered through regime change.
Keep picking them experts there truthy…
From the YaleHerald:
“Blake Hounshell, TD ’00, who has suffered from depression for most of his life, went to Mental Hygiene in the spring of his junior year for help. “I was suicidal at the time, and I told them so,” he said. “I should have been popped into a hospital. Instead, I was given a prescription for Paxil, an anti-depressant, and given counseling which made me feel like I needed to search for incidents in my past to explain my situation.” Dr. Lorraine Siggins, chief psychiatrist at Mental Hygiene, defended this mode of treatment. “Students are so used to being able to control things in their lives that it’s sometimes difficult for them to tolerate their feelings,” she said. “We try to get them to come to terms with things from a longer perspective. Impulsivity is often one of the problems.”
But Hounshell was unhappy with this approach, and soon stopped attending his twice-weekly therapy sessions. “When I stopped going to my appointments at Mental Hygiene, I got one call, and that was it,” he said. “I wasn’t really in shape to take care of myself at all. I’m surprised that I’m still alive.” “
Love it! I can see the headline now…
“Failure in Life Declares Iraq a Failed State”