Basra battle raises questions, with Petraeus, Crocker on Iraq ramp

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.trb.com/news/politics/blog/2008/04/basra_battle_raises_question_a.html

Basra battle raises questions, with Petraeus, Crocker on Iraq ramp
Posted April 2, 2008 8:00 AM
The Swamp
by Aamer Madhani


Last week's inconclusive battle for Basra is raising new questions about the viability of U.S. military strategy in Iraq as Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker head to Capitol Hill next week to give Congress their assessment of the U.S. troop surge.

President Bush billed the struggle between Shiite militiamen and the Iraqi army as a "defining moment" for Iraq. But the fighting left hundreds dead from Basra to Baghdad without causing any serious damage to the Mahdi Army militia demonstrates how ineffectual the Iraqi army is five years into the war and underscores that Iraqi politics remains more complicated than ever, military experts said.

The Iraqi security forces didn't have the same widespread problem of desertion they have had in other key battles of the war, but there were scattered reports of Iraqi police handing over their arms to the Mahdi Army and pronouncing fealty to its leader, Moqtada Sadr.

snip//

At the beginning of the war, Sadr was underestimated by the Americans as an irritant--a junior cleric from a prominent Shiite family with little of his own clout. Later, the U.S. occupational authority issued a warrant for his arrest on murder charges. More recently, top U.S. commanders have spoken of Sadr as a "Sayyid," an honorary term bestowed on those who are descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. The warming attitude of the Americans came after Sadr called on his followers last year to observe a cease fire.

"We still don't know what to do with him," Nasr said. "We don't want to go to war with him, and we don't want to give him Iraq. We are back to where we started."