Jun 19 2008
Another Smashing Success In Iraq
Prime Minister Maliki has executed another smashing success in Iraq has Iraqi forces have taken control of the Sadrist enclave of Amarah, the capitol city of Maysan Province. Â The initial phase was a window for militants (mostly Mahdi Militia) to surrender there arms and join society. Â Apparently that was very successful:
Dozens of Shiite militiamen surrendered to Iraqi forces on Wednesday hours before a deadline set by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for them to lay down their arms ahead of a new military crackdown.
Officials said the four-day deadline given to the fighters in the southern oil rich province of Maysan was successful although some militants had escaped ahead of the crackdown set to begin at midnight (2100 GMT).
In no small part this was due to the pre-surrender of the Sadrist Movement as it was facing the Iraqi government action (see here and here). During the window of amnesty Iraqi troops massed in key locations, cordoning off the area so as to make sure no remaining big fish could escape the net (many had left already for Iran, which borders the Province and the City).
The operation began today and was met with little resistance or fighting as the Sadrists and the Mahdi Militia rolled over in surrender:
Iraqi troops are meeting no resistance as they achieve their objectives calmly in the crackdown against Shiite militias in the southern Maysan province, a security official told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Thursday.
In the early hours on Thursday, the troops started a security offensive against militias after a four-day deadline for militants to surrender their arms expired.
‘The offensive has started without armed clashes. We are achieving our objectives calmly and we met no resistance,’ General Abdel-Karim Khalaf, the spokesman for Iraqi Ministry of Interior told dpa.
‘Troops are working in normal conditions without having to impose a curfew,’ the general said.
In one of the more bold elements of the move a deputy governor, a Sadrist leader, was apprehended:
Security forces in Iraq arrested the deputy governor of Missan province on Thursday in a security operation against Shia militias, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.Â
According to Voices of Iraq, the Missan Deputy Governor, Rafeaa Jabar, who is also the mayor of the city of Amara, is a senior figure in the Mahdi Army militia of the anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The director of al-Sadr’s office in Missan, Sheikh Adnan al-Silawi, confirmed Jabar’s arrest to VOI.
Amarah and the surrounding Maysan Province are thought to be the central hub for weapons and other support from Iran. Â By taking control of this border area Iraq has severely curtailed Iran’s ability to cause mayhem and atrocities inside Iraq. Â
The liberal SurrenderMedia will have a tough time twisting this fourth, successful major action across Iraq in so many months as a big defeat in the quagmire of Iraq. Â All four of these efforts (Basra, Sadr City, Mosul and now Amarah) were Iraqi led efforts with US and coalition forces in back up roles. Â It is a clear sign we have achieved victory in Iraq, which will be marked with an exclamation point with the new round of elections this fall and next spring. Â The deniers can keep their blinders on – but it only makes them look ever more foolish, ever more incredible.
“Amarah and the surrounding Maysan Province are thought to be the central hub for weapons and other support from Iran.”
The province due North of Maysan will be next. It is also a transit point for Iran.
One “great success” story after another! The Iraqi government has much to be proud of (as do the coalition forces for training their army).
When will the story be told in the media?
“When will the story be told in the media?”
As soon as you create a media outlet and publish it. I so want to start a newspaper. I don’t think newspapers are dead, I think nobody reads them because every single paper carries exactly the same content.
The story will be told when it matches the political agenda of the media publishers. Right now most of our major media are carrying water for the Democrats. They publish bad news for Republicans, good news for Democrats. As long as things are going well in Iraq, you will not hear a word about it except for bombings and such.
Good idea, crosspatch, ya think many people will flock to your newspaper because you’re reporting nothing but the facts?
I think of it like this. If you have 125 places to eat in a town and 124 of them have exactly the same menu every day and one place has something different … kind of like why Fox News has such high ratings. MSNBC, CNN, and all the others carry pretty much the same content. Fox has something different.
I would offer opinion in addition to facts but I would do something even more … I would include, for example, extensive coverage of the local bar dart and pool leagues, bowling standings at the local lanes … the local school sports to the middle school level … give people a chance to see themselves in the paper as being a part of their community. When people find out that they are probably IN that paper that week, they are going to want it. People love to see their own names or their bowling team or whatever in print.
It would be mostly an intensively local paper, with national content shown from a different angle. I would have a weekly page where local service members would be mentioned when they join, complete some training or other, or come home from overseas, retire, discharge, or whatever a family might contribute to that page. It would be proud of our local police and fire and our service members, particularly local National Guard and Reserve units. Again, it would have more article in it that have just average people’s names in there, not the big wheelers and dealers. They get their names in the “big” paper all the time.
It’s just a pipe dream, though.
I have been waiting for the Iraqi government to reissue the arrest warrant for Sadr, I wonder if it will happen anytime soon. Of course Time magazine will spin as an actual victory for Sadr since it means he never has to go back to Iraq and be in power.
To my mind the story even bigger than Iraq’s success is Iran’s failure.
Interesting idea about the paper, Cross. If newspapers had tried that model 20 years ago they might not be dying today.
The real problem for papers today, of course, is advertising. If the change had been made while they still had satisfied advertisers they could have kept them – but now advertisers have been leaving in droves for years and finding alternatives, such as the net.
Once you’ve driven your customers away it’s 10 times harder to get them to change their minds and come back. Put another way, some damage once done can never be undone. And newspapers have destroyed their own business model.
I think your plan could work – but the owner of such a paper would have to be willing and able to take many millions of dollars of losses establishing a reputation and a base before it could ever become successful. It would be interesting to see if Sam Zell, who bought the LA Times, can figure this out since he stands to lose a billion dollars on his purchase.
Of course, for someone at his level there’s always the option of run the thing into the ground, fire everyone, and sell off the name and the real estate for salvage. Nice way to get rid of any union troubles. Use the losses for tax purposes to offset income gains from other holdings you have. And if you count what he’ll make after he strips out all the television stations and all the other goodies that came along with the purchase, I kinda think he won’t lose so much. The Tribune Company isn’t a news outlet to Zell – it’s a big pinata he can smash with a stick so that he can catch all of the goodies that come tumbling out. The employees don’t know that, but along the way, he might as well let them do whatever the hell they want to do, since nothing they do matters in the long run.
Too bad nobody’s told them that part yet.
So that suggests a plan – 20 years from now, when you can buy all the ownership rights to the LA Times for $50 in a second hand junk shop, it might actually be economical to try that idea. Probably not until then, though.
more play by play on a civil war that has cost us tens of thousands of casualties and trillions of dollars…zzzzzzzzzzz
“…a civil war that has cost us tens of thousands of casualties …”
Ruh Roh. Norm has let it slip out….
Just who is that “us”, Norm?
Certainly not America!
AJ, it’s a wonderful thing to read all these exciting events in Iraq!
G_d bless the Iraqi’s and G_d bless our Commander-in-Chief, George W. Bush (not the supreme court!!!) and our magnificent military!
…..more play by play………
And the sports analogy reveals this particular fan to be not very happy about the scores piling up against his team…..
…on a civil war….
It certainly was a civil war, and the fact that it is no more would apparently require a “willing suspension of disbelief” on the part of those who predicted it couldn’t possibly end……
….that has cost us tens of thousands of casualties and trillions of dollars…..
It is true that wars have costs, so do deadly attacks. I wonder if norm could tell us how many “casualties” resulted from all the attacks on American interests since jihad was declared, up to and including 9-11? How about the cost in monetary terms? Or is it that America and Americans are his true enemy and he doesn’t care?
zzzzzzzzzzz………….
Hey, norm’s asleep! That’s how he dreams this stuff up!