Thursday, March 27, 2008

Iraq returns to "normal"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The Pentagon is making the outrageous claim that the recent surge in violence in Iraq is actually a "by-product of the success of the surge." Huh?

John Cole calls this "the worst framing of the situation in Iraq, ever," and he may be right. According to the spin, "the positive outcome of the surge to stop the violence was an increase in elective violence."

Which, let's face it, is just plain stupid -- but, then, the warmongers think we're stupid and easily taken in by such stupidities.

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Meanwhile, the situation in Iraq is worsening:

With the United States providing air cover and embedded advisers, the Iraqi government on Wednesday expanded its offensive against Shiite Muslim militias from the port city of Basra to the capital of Baghdad — and many of the provinces in between.

The day saw street battles in Baghdad and Basra, mortar attacks by Shiite rebels against Baghdad's Green Zone, bombing by U.S. aircraft and encounters that left government tanks in flames. More than 97 people were reported killed and hundreds were wounded since the operation began early Tuesday.

In Baghdad, at least nine Iraqi civilians were killed and 42 were wounded in mortar attacks, police said. The Mahdi Army, loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr, opened fire on civilians in downtown Baghdad and clashed with Iraqi security forces in Kadhemiya in north Baghdad.

In Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City neighborhood, clashes between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi security forces supported by U.S. forces left at least 20 dead and 115 were injured. By early afternoon, people took to the streets in protest of the Iraqi government.

Mortar rounds crashed into the heavily fortified Green Zone for the third straight day, injuring three U.S. government employees, all U.S. citizens, said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo.

Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, who's directing the operation from Basra, gave the armed groups 72 hours to give up their weapons and surrender without consequences, warning that they'd be treated as outlaws if they didn't.

But al Sadr demanded that Maliki leave Basra and send a parliamentary delegation to hold a dialogue. Maliki immediately rebuffed the demand.

Maliki appears to be taking a huge risk in confronting the volatile city, which is dominated by the Mahdi Army.

There were growing signs that Sadr's cease-fire, which he declared in August and renewed in February, was unraveling. The cease-fire is one of the principal reasons for the downturn in violence and U.S. troop deaths this year.

We knew it was coming -- and that the surge wasn't really working and that the lull in violence was only temporary at best -- and here it is.

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2 Comments:

  • I AM A CONSERVATIVE, REPUBLICAN, RETIRED US ARMY/VIETNAM VET. WHAT YOUR SEEING IN IRAQ NOW IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE A COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATIVE. WE HAD SADR IN CUSTODY YEARS AGO AND LET HIM GO. JUST LIKE WE DID WITH OSAMA AND THE IRAQ ARMY. THE SURGE WAS WORKING HOWEVER, IF SADR IS NOT KILLED OR CAPTURED, THE SURGE WILL FAIL. THEN OUR SOLDIERS WILL HAVE DIED IN VAIN, JUST LIKE IN VIETNAM.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 8:50 AM  

  • The surge has produced results to the point where this type of operation can be conceived and carried out. This operation is part of a logical progression from constantly being attacked, to being able to defend yourself, to going on the attack. I'm not sure if this type of operation was the way to go, but I do know that news stories that just reporting the casualties from this event without differentiating between Iraqi Government losses and militia losses is useless and gives no idea whether things are improving or getting worse. If a battle is occurring where only a few government forces are being lost, and large numbers of militia are being destroyed and the control of the government is expanding, it is a major victory, not automatically a step backwards.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:00 PM  

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