Security worsens in south (Iraq) as Mahdi Army resorts to arms

[sabra]

Source: Azzaman

Violence erupted once again in central and southern Iraq as heavily armed Shiite militia groups battle with police and army over control of residential quarters.

Most ferocious clashes are reported to be taking place in the Province of Wasit of which the city of Kut is the capital.

Police sources in Kut say the Mahdi Army, the military army of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, has driven police forces from city.

The clashes follow orders from Sadr to permit his militias to carry arms and defend themselves. This is the first breach of the six-month truce he and U.S. commanders had agreed upon.

So far the fighting has involved his militias and Iraqi forces. But the latest clashes in Kut prove that Iraqi troops are no match to Sadr’s heavily armed militia.

Read more: http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news/2008-03-12/kurd.htm

[thereismore]

1. I thought the police were 99% Shia. WTH? nt

[sabra]

2. major turf wars going on in the South...

[Tempest]

4. They are

This is a tribal war.

Something Saddam kept a lid on.

[bushmeister0]

3. Whata about our lines of communications? MSR Tampa in the crosshairs?

"A senior figure in Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Basra office, Saed al-Haidery, was shot dead in northern Basra, police and Sadrist officials said."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM230698.htm

This probably has something to do with the recent news.

It's no secret Jaish al-Mahdi, the Badr brigade and various other gangsters have been battling over the south for some time now. If the south goes south watch out, because that's an area we haven't been paying much attention to, which is odd considering that since the British decided to bug-out on us they've left Main Supply Route Tampa (MSR Tampa) vulnurable.

News story:

" . . .Some military commanders and civilian government officials in the area are concerned that the transition could leave them and a major supply route to Baghdad at greater risk of attack. The route, a lifeline that carries fuel, food, ammunition and equipment for the war, crosses desert territory that is home to rival militias and criminal gangs. In interviews, Americans stationed in the southern provinces and Pentagon planners say they are closely watching the situation there as the British pass security responsibility to local Iraqi units."

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/2007/0915supplylines.htm

Local Iraq units that are massively out gunnned by Jaish al-Mahdi. Plan B?

"Officials in Baghdad and Washington say other options include increased patrols by armed surveillance aircraft, attack helicopters and combat jets."

How are they going to protect a convoy with an F-16?

[IsItJustMe]

5. How's that surge working?

[cliss]

6. We can't hang on.

They're trying to hang on to the treasure - by every means possible. But - with each passing day, it just becomes more and more impossible.

We will be long gone before the Iraqi Black Gold is pumped out of the ground (we'll be bankrupt just trying to hang onto it on the surface). The Iraqis will have their oil. There will be lots fewer Iraqis (maybe half the population gone )

Just cost too much.:smoke:

[Doctor_J]

7. elsewhere, the Iraqi patriots are mailing hostages' fingers to US officials

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3223801

The surge still going well?

[pfitz59]

8. Our (clueless) soldiers...

are stuck in the middle of a civil war. Buck Foosh!

[jtrockville]

9. I thought Sadr extended the cease fire. ???