Sadr Offensive Shows Failure of Petraeus Strategy

[babylonsister]

Sadr Offensive Shows Failure of Petraeus Strategy
by Gareth Porter


WASHINGTON - The escalation of fighting between Mahdi Army militiamen and their Shiite rivals, which could mark the end of Moqtada al-Sadr’s self-imposed ceasefire, also exposes Gen. David Petraeus’s strategy for controlling Sadr’s forces as a failure.



Petraeus reacted immediately to Sunday’s rocket attacks on the Green Zone by blaming them on Iran. He told the BBC the rockets were “Iranian provided, Iranian-made rockets”, and that they were launched by groups that were funded and trained by the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Petraeus said this was “in complete violation of promises made by President {Mahmoud} Ahmadinejad and other most senior Iranian leaders to their Iraqi counterparts”.

Petraeus statement was clearly intended to divert attention from a development that threatens one of the two main pillars of the administration’s claim of progress in Iraq — the willingness of Sadr to restrain the Mahdi Army, even in the face of systematic raids on its leadership by the U.S. military and its Iraqi allies.

The rocket attacks appear to have been one of several actions by the Mahdi Army to warn the United States and the Iraqi government to halt their systematic raids aimed at driving the Sadrists out of key Shiite centres in the south. They were followed almost immediately by Mahdi Army clashes with rival Shiite militiamen in Basra, Sadr City and Kut and a call for a nationwide general strike to demand the release of Sadrist detainees.

Even more pointed was a strong warning from Sadr aide Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammedawi to the United States as well as to the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), whose Badr Organisation militiamen, in the uniforms of Iraqi security forces, have targeted the Madhi Army throughout the south. “They don’t seem to realise that the Sadrist trend is like a volcano,” he told worshippers Friday in Kufa. “If it explodes, it will crush their rotten heads.”

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/26/7892/

[Dhalgren]

1. "If it explodes, it will crush their rotten heads."

This is going south, hard. Bush will bomb Iran and we will lose a thousand troops in the ensuing day or two. Man, I hate this government...

[Supersedeas]

2. political appearances....a surge of 'payoff money' designed to tamp down violence long enough to

hand Dems the problem.

[antiganda]

3. I'm still not worried about..

..an attack on Iran. Iran ain't Iraq. Bushco is crazy and amoral, not stupid.
What strikes me about this devpt is that last night I saw the Iraq war special on Frontline, and it showed cellphone footage of Saddam's hanging. Apparently, we turned Saddam over for the actual necktie party to members of Sadr's militia. They were chanting "Muqtada..Muqtada" in the background as Saddam, with dignity and defiance, died like a man, even if he sometimes didn't live like one.
We had originally intended to attack and destroy Sadr's militia and assassinate Al Sadr just after we invaded, when he had only around 500 followers. The admin got "cold feet" reportedly, but I think the truth is they figured Sadr and his men might come in handy at some point. My point is they considered the Sadr militia as the bad guys. In truth, I think this was one of those 2 times a day when a stopped clock is right. They're religious thugs IMO.
But what does our Iraq command do? Turns Saddam over to them to be hanged.
I guess this is an example of the post-Reagan morality, where we assassinate from a safe, unvetted, un isolated distance anyone we regard as anti-U.S. policy.
I guess the good 'ol USA would capture the gunslinging outlaw, and instead of taking him back to town to let the Marshall's put him on the 3:10 to Yuma, we'd just, well..turn him over to the Apaches.

[bdamomma]

4. welcome to DU antiganda!!

:hi:

[babylonsister]

6. One really good writer I know of is worried. Here's his commentary,

and welcome to DU.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3055550

[wuushew]

7. Actually Bush is dumb as a rock. Why do you think he is smart?

He doesn't read, was a C student, C pilot and blew whatever poltical capital he had after the 2004 elections.


I can't think of anything that shows him to be a shrewd or deep thinker in any way.

[antiganda]

8. Thank you very much for the welcome folks

..wuushew i don't think Bush is smart, but the ppl around him and the ones that really influence policy are..in a shrewd, cunning way. Most ppl have never heard of folks like Addington and the individual neo-cons, and most Americans probably still think of the vice-president position as a ceremonial pedestal. I think they want it that way.

[spanone]

5. kick & recommended