Posted on 10/24/2006 5:40:08 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2006 – The Iraqi government has plans to demobilize all illegal militias, including radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s so-called “Mahdi Army,” the senior U.S. diplomat in Iraq said today.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki “has agreed to getting rid of the militias,” U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters at a Baghdad news conference.
Illegal militias that commit violence and murder need to be dealt with, Khalilzad said, noting the Iraqi government recognizes that fact.
Maliki wants to demobilize all the militias, including al-Sadr’s, Khalilzad said. Yet, he noted, U.S. officials don’t have direct contact with Sadr, although there is some interaction with some of Sadr’s representatives in the Iraqi Assembly.
Khalilzad said he believes that an integrated, political approach is the best way to try to convince militia leaders to disband their men and stack arms.
However, Maliki doesn’t rule out the use of force to coerce the militias to disband, Khalilzad said. “We will see what happens,” he added.
Khalilzad said he believes the Iraqi government is taking the right path in addressing the militia issue. Iraq’s prime minister is anxious for Iraqis to assume more security roles and responsibilities, to include dealing the problem of militias, the ambassador said.
Meanwhile, U.S., coalition and Iraqi security forces “are actively tracking, targeting, detaining people who are operating in death squads, and their leadership, who are breaking the law,” Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, said.
When Iraq’s government zeroes in on the militia issue, then the Iraqi security forces will become the dominant security forces in the country, Casey predicted.
“I think it will happen,” he said.
Excellent!
It's about time but better late than never. God bless our troops.
Isn't "illegal militias" just another term for terrorist organizations?
Praying it happens, and quick.
Of course this will not be reported by the "Tetful" lying sacks of _____ in the MSM!
Very Good News...Watchin'...
Well it's about "motherscratchin'" time!!!
You use much kinder terms than I would like to use.
Yea right, why don't they use the UN or pass a resolution. I have a novel approach - go in - kick ass and take names. It is, after all, your country.
With everybody in a white or black turban vying for a piece of the pie in Iraq, all I can say is “good luck” in this endeavor.
Not trying to be negative about this, just a little bit skeptical with a strong wait and see attitude. Always praying for the best, but always a little bit skeptical.
Tribal and sectarian history in a culture still imbedded in 13th and 14th century culture is going to be hard to overcome.
I know what you're saying and I don't think they'll stack arms but if the Iraqis and us hit them hard I don't think they can survive for long. I believe it's the Iraqi army that's questionable.
Agree with you on both counts.
Personally, I hope for the best, expect the worst. Also hope that Bush has time to make this happen. If not, the Dems, if they win in ’08, will pull us out and another Saddam Hussein will be the outcome. The outcome, in this worse case scenario, will be that the Iraqis choose (and that’s their choice) to not accept what we have to offer … but would mean that thousands of our troops would have died in vain.
How about kill them. Turn the USMC and the the US Army loose, and they will all be dead in 2 weeks.
We've had lots of time for plans. In that time Sadr's Mehdi Army has grown from 200 to 10,000. What we need is a little less planning over a cozy cup of tea with the tribal leaders and a few hangings of same. IMHO, of course.
We lost in Viet Nam because of the MSM of the day. We were winning, however, the MSM cut Johnson’s and Nixon’s gonads off and forced them to admit a defeat that was never going to happened. Not to mention the fact that both presidents thought they were better at military strategy than all the experienced military leaders of the time (shades of Hitler).
Now it seems like history is going to repeat itself, unless we:
Get rid of all imbedded news people.
Remind ourselves that the Geneva Convention pertains only to combatants in uniform working for a legitimate government.
Let our troops do their job without fear of reprisal outside of the military.
We have the best trained military in the history of the world. The best equipped and trained military ever seen in the annals of warfare … let them do their job and this would be over in months.
AND IGNORE THE UN!
As a NamVet, I’m still pissed about what happened to my generation, I don’t want it to happen to this generation of fighters!!!!!!
Rant off
Not picking on you … just a good spot to vent.
Initially send in units from Kurdistan. I know that some Peshmerga units and individuals were incorporated into the Iraqi Army.
They have women units too. Using a few of them, with backup by the men, maybe just to goad the Jihadies, might be interesting.
Not true. It also applies to irregular forces, as long as they are uniformed, can be as simple as an armband, bear arms openly, and generally observe the rules of war.
It doesn't apply to those who wear civilian clothes, who grow rice (or herd camels) by day and kill running dog imperialists (or Infidels) by night.
About time.
You make a good point, I wasn't thinking of them. I read where they are really quite a good bunch.
Not too long back I read an article here about the women in the army and they sounded more than capable also.
For some reason the pics you sent didn't turn out, just red X's. It might be my puter because sometimes it happens with it.
They should contact him. A knock on his window with a TV or laser guided bomb would be a good start.
That happens with some sites. I see them, but I'd seen them without linking directly to them, so they were in my cache.
You can see them here.
Ha, I just went to the link you provided and when I came back the pics had come up. Thanks for sending that.
And if memory serves me right, those caught out of regular uniform should be considered spies and are subject death according to the Geneva Convention.
That's what our Founding Fathers had in mind. The people are the Militia, and the people are sovereign.
These so called militias in Iraq are really private armies, and not the same sort of thing as our early Militias, which were organized by cities and towns, but with their weaponry, sometimes even their cannon, privately owned. Or for that matter, the Swiss militia which is under the control of the central government, but more now than originally) Sadr's "militia" is called the Mahdi Army. I suspect calling them "militias" is MSM swipe at our militia history and our RKBA. Little SOBs are sneaky that way.
Thank you SandRat.
and how's that lil Elmo Lover doing???
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