Nouri al-Maliki humiliated as gamble to crush Shia militias fail (sic)

[bemildred]

Source: Times UK

The soldiers guarding the entrance to Sadr City were jumpy, despite a ceasefire announced by al-Mahdi Army Shia militia. And with good reason: a huge boom rolled across the militia stronghold as a roadside bomb struck a passing vehicle. American armoured vehicles sped off to the aid of stricken comrades.

Overnight al-Mahdi Army has melted back into the population in Baghdad and Basra after its leader, the antiAmerican cleric Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, ordered it to stop fighting government forces. In Sadr City and other militia strongholds they do not need to be seen. Their presence is felt everywhere.

Walking across the lines separating the US and government forces from the barbed wire sealing off Sadr City, an Iraqi army major muttered: “You’re going in without guards? You’ll be kidnapped for sure.” The Sadr Office had, however, arranged an escort for visiting journalists: a police car with three officers. “Don’t worry,” the driver reassured his passengers. “We know where all the IEDs are.”

The police in areas controlled by al-Mahdi Army work closely with the militia and would never dream of interfering in its fights with the Government that pays their salaries.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3656300.ece

[babylonsister]

1. Maybe Gates was a bit too hasty in praising al-Maliki...

Gates says Iraqi army appears to have performed well

6 hours ago

COPENHAGEN (AFP) — Iraqi forces appear to have done "a pretty good job" in an offensive to regain control of Basra from Shiite gangs and militias, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.

"We're obviously hopeful that he will achieve most of his objectives, and see calm return as well," Gates told reporters enroute here from Brussels, referring to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

His comments came as radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called off his fighters, signalling an end to six days of clashes in Basra, Baghdad and other cities that left 461 people dead.

more...

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1Vz1Zbn6COXvgid5Zl968oiMAYg

[bemildred]

2. Gates would say the moon is made of green cheese to protect the US defense industry. nt

[saigon68]

11. "Puppet Boy" Maliki gives news conference for US Masters

[Doctor_J]

14. If the surge was such a thundering success, why do we have to "reclaim" Basra?

When was it lost? why are more lives being put at risk in a job that was supposedly already done?

When are we going to place Cheney under arrest?

[fshrink]

3. As I said a few days ago,

this is a solid chess player they're dealing with. Not some Jerry Falwell in robes.

[whistle]

4. This whole thing was orchestrated by BushCo which is why it failed

[bemildred]

9. Seems like the way to bet. Cheney keeps his lifelong streak alive. nt

[bemildred]

5. Maverick cleric trumps al-Maliki's government in southern showdown

BAGHDAD: The Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rarely ventures into the public eye. But he's never far from the minds of Iraq's leaders as one of the nation's most influential and wily political survivors.

It appears he has managed again to turn a potential blow to his advantage.

Al-Sadr, who directs the powerful Madhi Army militia, was facing a possible stranglehold after Iraqi forces moved last week against Shiite gangs in the southern city of Basra. Instead, al-Sadr emerged as a self-styled peacemaker and patriot after offering Sunday to rein in the Mahdi militiamen who rose up to protest the crackdown.

"Al-Sadr achieved what he wanted," said Vali Nasr, an expert on Shiite politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. "He stood his ground, made his point and showed he has the real power in the south, not his rivals."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/01/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Sadrs-Stand.php

[bemildred]

6. Crackdown backfires, strengthens Sadrists

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's crackdown on militias in the southern oil port of Basra appears to have backfired, exposing the weakness of his army and strengthening his political foes ahead of elections. US President George W Bush has praised the crackdown, calling it a "defining moment" for Iraq, but it has unleashed a wave of destabilizing violence in southern Iraq and in Baghdad that risks undoing the security improvements of the past year. It has also exposed a deep rift within Iraq's Shiite majority-between the political parties in Maliki's government and followers of populist cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr.

Analysts say Iraqis may be about to witness a new phase in the cycle of violence that has gripped the country since the US-led invasion in 2003 - intra-Shiite bloodletting that could tear Iraq apart and more deeply embroil US forces. Sadr on Sunday pulled back from all-out confrontation against Iraqi security forces and their U.S. backers, ordering his Mehdi Army militia to stop fighting. While Basra was reported to be calm on Monday, mortar attacks shook Baghdad.

It will be a short honeymoon, especially with election time coming up," said Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre. Provincial elections are due to take place by October, with the Sadrists, who boycotted the last polls in 2005, vying for control of the mainly Shiite, oil-producing south with a powerful rival, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. "The stand-off is not over yet, it's only a truce ... provincial elections will trigger the battle again," predicted Hazem Al-Nuaimi, a political analyst based in Baghdad.

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MjUxOTEyMDA4

[bemildred]

7. Iraq clashes subside, but militia still intact

Reportedly with Iran's help, al-Sadr survives U.S.-backed bid to crush him

BAGHDAD - Rockets fell on the Green Zone and random machine gun fire rang out Monday in the southern city of Basra as Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr sought to rein in his militia after a week of battles that claimed about 400 lives.

The peace deal between al-Sadr and Iraqi government forces — said to have been brokered in Iran — calmed the violence but left the cleric’s Mahdi Army intact and Iraq’s U.S.-backed prime minister politically battered and humbled within his own Shiite power base.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had promised to crush the militias that have effectively ruled Basra for nearly three years. The U.S. military launched air strikes in the city to back the Iraqi effort.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23875667/

[bemildred]

8. The Basra backdown

The conflict in Basra seems to be winding down, with an agreement being brokered by Iran:

Iraqi lawmakers traveled to the Iranian holy city of Qom over the weekend to win the support of the commander of Iran’s Qods brigades in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to order his followers to stop military operations, members of the Iraqi parliament said. Sadr ordered the halt on Sunday, and his Mahdi Army militia heeded the order in Baghdad, where the Iraqi government announced it would lift a 24-hour curfew starting early Monday in most parts of the capital.

...The backdrop to Sadr’s dramatic statement was a secret trip Friday by Iraqi lawmakers to Qom, Iran’s holy city and headquarters for the Iranian clergy who run the country.

There the Iraqi lawmakers held talks with Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Qods (Jerusalem) brigades of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and signed an agreement with Sadr, which formed the basis of his statement Sunday, members of parliament said. Ali al Adeeb, a member of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s Dawa party, and Hadi al Ameri, the head of the Badr Organization, the military wing of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, had two aims, lawmakers said: to ask Sadr to stand down his militia and to ask Iranian officials to stop supplying weapons to Shiite militants in Iraq.

So it looks like the initial attack by forces loyal to PM Maliki was an attempt to knock out the Mehdi Army (the Sadrists) before the provincial elections scheduled for October. The US ended up backing Maliki—thus putting lie to the notion that the attack itself represented a sign of the Iraqi’s government’s ability to fight its own fights—but the action failed. (More on this here.) Therefore, as the McCatchy reports notes:

The Qom discussions may or may not bring an end to the fighting but they almost certainly have undermined Maliki - who made repeated declarations that there would be no negotiations and that he would treat as outlaws those who did not turn in their weapons for cash. The blow to his own credibility was worsened by the fact that members of his own party had helped organize the Iran initiative.

http://blogs.news.com.au/news/blogocracy/index.php/news/comments/the_basra_backdown/

[bemildred]

10. Lebanon's top Shiite cleric bans public attacks in Iraq

BEIRUT: Lebanon's top Shiite Muslim cleric issued a religious edict yesterday banning attacks on public utilities in Iraq, mainly the oil industry, urging Iraqis to solve their problems through dialogue. Iraqi-born Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who enjoys some influence among Iraq's Shiites, said in a statement that Iraqis should work for stability in their country otherwise they will be helping the "occupation ... that wants to dominate Iraqis and stay longer in Iraq in order to serve its dangerous project in the region.

Fadlallah's comments came after radical cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr ordered his Shiite militiamen off the streets after days of clashes with government forces in southern Iraq, mainly in the oil-rich city of Basra. Fadlallah, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, banning attacks on public utilities. "We stress the contents of the fatwa that it is prohibited to attack properties and public wealth, whether it is oil wealth or other types of wealth, and attacks on people, their lives, security, stability, property
or honor," he said. Since hostilities began Tuesday, two oil pipelines were attacked in Basra.

The first attack occurred Tuesday and targeted a domestic pipeline that links the Noor oil field in the southern Maysan province to the refinery in Basra. Two days later, a bomb hit the Zubair-1 pipeline that sends crude oil from the Basra Zubair oil field to tanks for Iraq's two exporting terminals on the Gulf.

Fighting between Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and Iraqi and US-led multinational troops has raged since Tuesday, when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki began military operations against the group and vowed to remain in Basra until the mission was accomplished. The battles there sparked violence in other southern cities and in Baghdad.

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=Mjg3MzA3Mzc2

[xchrom]

12. recommend -- this whole thread is an interesting read --

and sounds like a triangle between the shiite powerful is developing between iraq, iran and lebanon.

this could bear watching.

[bemildred]

13. Muqtada's fight puts US to flight

---

Petraeus, meanwhile, was convinced that the ability of the Mahdi Army to resist had been reduced by US military actions as well as by its presumed internal disorganization. His spokesman, Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, declared in early November, "As we've gone after that training skill levels amongst the enemy, we've degraded their capability..."

---

That assumption ignored the evidence that Muqtada had been avoiding major combat because he was reorganizing and rebuilding the Mahdi Army into a more effective force. Thousands of Mahdi Army fighters, including top commanders, were sent to Iran for training - not as "rogue elements", as suggested by the US command, but with Muqtada's full support. One veteran Mahdi Army fighter who had undergone such training told The Independent last April that the retraining was "part of a new strategy. We know we are against a strong enemy and we must learn proper methods and techniques."

Last week, a Mahdi Army commander in Sadr City in Baghdad was quoted by The Canadian Press as saying, "We are now better organized, have better weapons, command centers and easy access to logistical and financial support."

The ability of Mahdi Army units in Basra to stop in its tracks the biggest operation mounted against it since 2004 suggests that Shi'ite military resistance to the occupation is only beginning. Through the strength of the Mahdi Army's response just before Petraeus' testimony, Muqtada has posed a major challenge to the Bush narrative of military success in Iraq.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JD02Ak02.html

[saigon68]

15. Meanwhile General Betrayus sends your children into the never ending

War for Halliburton and Exxon profits

[bemildred]

16. Iraq to hire 100,000 new security personnel for Basra

Iraq's prime minister today announced plans to recruit 10,000 security personnel for Basra even as he claimed that his widely criticised military assault on Shia militants in the southern city last week had been a “success”.

Nouri al-Maliki’s announcement that the police and army presence in Basra would be bolstered was tied to a pledge that no one would be arrested without a warrant from the judiciary, a concession to the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Sadr’s Madhi army repulsed the assault on their strongholds in the city by government troops last week.

The attack sparked violence across southern and central Iraq, resulting in at least 200 deaths.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/01/wirq101.xml

[bemildred]

17. About turn: UK troops ordered to stay in Iraq to stop Basra violence spiralling out of control

Thousands of British troops were today ordered to stay in Iraq to stop violence in Basra spiralling out of control.

Defence Secretary Des Browne was telling MPs this afternoon that he was shelving - for the time being - plans to cut British forces to 2,500 this spring.

On the basis of military advice, he has concluded that the current instability in southern Iraq means it is too early to start the promised pull-out of the 4,100 British personnel still based there.

Ministers are expected to make a statement at the end this month on how quickly troops can come home but the pace of withdrawals is now expected to be slower than envisaged.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=552913&in_page_id=1770&ito=newsnow

[Supersedeas]

18. but but but Gates and the Media cheerleaders have a different script

[donkeyotay]

19. Here's more on the people of Basra

BASRA OIL FUELS FIGHT TO CONTROL IRAQ'S ECONOMIC MIGHT
The province sits on as much as 20 percent of the Middle East's oil reserves.
By Sam Dagher | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the September 19, 2007 edition

BASRA, IRAQ - It could be an "empire," says one Shiite militia leader. For the provincial governor, Basra's future is shimmering skyscrapers. He wants the Iraqi port city to be another Arab metropolis, perhaps the next Dubai.

Many Iraqis – businessmen, criminal bosses, militia commanders, political leaders – have designs on the city, that is vitally important to Iraq's national economy.

With its oil proceeds, Basra Province provided Baghdad nearly 90 percent of its budget of $40 million this year. And there is more money to come, if Iraq fully repairs and expands its war-ravaged oil infrastructure. Basra sits on some of the world's largest untapped reserves. In fact, the bulk of Iraq's estimated 200 billion barrels in potential deposits are here.

The fight for a stake in Basra's riches is often desperate and violent. Whoever comes out on top, they will hold great sway over the country, and much influence in the Middle East. Now that British forces have left Basra city, and are preparing for a full withdrawal from Basra Province by year-end, many Basrawis worry that this fight for control of Basra's petroleum wealth will further increase, perhaps growing into an all-out war.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0919/p12s01-wome.html?page=1

[darue]

20. here's some news from outside the bubble...

http://arablinks.blogspot.com/

it sure looks like it's about time for us to declare victory and pull out.