Worries grow with expansion of Al-Sadr's army

AP ^ | December 7 2006

[jmc1969]

The Iraq Study Group says the private army of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr could be 60-thousand fighters strong.

Al-Sadr's Mahdi army is one of the concerns highlighted in the Iraq Study Group's report, released yesterday. It's one of many factions undermining U-S efforts to help Iraq's democracy gain control.

The study group says many of al-Sadr's followers are planted throughout the security forces that protect Iraqi government institutions.

And more worrisome than their numbers, which stood at ten-thousand in 2005, is al-Sadr's organizational ability. One terrorism expert says cell phones, Internet communications and other technology gives the Mahdi army an "enormous" ability to mobilize their forces.

And the panel worries that al-Sadr himself may not be able to manage his growing network.

[KingArthur305]

Baker says lets wipe them out.

[Brilliant]

Better yet, tell the Sunnis that if they wipe al Sadr's army out, we'll just watch.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Baker says lets wipe them out.

Does he? If so, it's proof that even an amoral foreign-policy reactionary, like a stopped clock, can be right once in a while.

[jmc1969]

No, Baker says we should negotate with Sadr and Iran to disarm the Madhi Army

[dr_who_2]

Prepare to worry more and do even less.

[dr_who_2]

What did the Sunnis do when Hussein invaded Kuwait?

[Dog Gone]

I think we are scaring ourselves too much.

Why should any country be afraid that WE could mobilize troops using cell phones to call possible recruits to the front lines? We'll continue to slaughter them, and the only thing that can stop us is.........us.

These ain't elite fighters.

[mcshot]

All this PC crap has brought me to the feeling of impending doom with those responsible for such blaming it on someone else.

[Yo-Yo]

What did the Sunnis do when Hussein invaded Kuwait?

They led the Republican Guard.

[AZLiberty]

Who do you suppose controls the cell phones and Internet in Iraq?

[Yo-Yo]

Better yet, tell the Sunnis that if they wipe al Sadr's army out, we'll just watch.

That's exactly what's happening already, and what has everybody's panties in a bunch regarding the "quagmire."

[Parrot_was_devastating]

Shia have been the big winners also in the Loot Iraqi oil game, ...some $750 Million looted in 2003 when their crime network was in its infancy.
Russia eye's its lost Lukoil concession in West Qurna....which is in Shia terror-tory west of Basra.
Qurna's big [Wikipedia]-one of Iraq's largest oil fields, loacated north of Rumaila field, west of Basra. West Qurna is believed to hold 11 to 15 billion barrel (1.8 to 2.4 km³) of recoverable reserve and have production potential of 0.8 to 1.0 million barrel per day (1.5 to 1.8 m³/s).

To date, petroleum geologists have delineated and mapped over 526 prospects — drilling 131 prospects to discover 73 major fields. They have identified some 239 as having a high degree of certainty, but those prospects remain undrilled. Thirty fields have been partially developed and only 12 fields are actually onstream. Undrilled structures and undeveloped fields could represent the largest untapped hydrocarbon resource anywhere in the world.
About 30 to 40 percent of discovered Iraqi oil reserves lie within a few thousand feet of the surface, while more than 60 percent of the discovered reserves lie within 10,000 feet. Most of Iraq’s proven oil reserves are distributed over 73 fields, nine of which are super-giants and 22 of which are giants. The remainder are considered large by world standards.[Geo Times]

add to this....Iraqi oil is Low Sulphur in content...which is highly desireable for existing Low Sulphur process at U.S.refineries.

Maybe its time for the Saudi's to go fight for Allah's blessing,
Allah can sort out the bodies later.

wonder how that showcase military of theirs would do in real battle : )

[zarf]

This one is truly Bush's fault.

Should we give them roses perhaps?

[zarf]

This one is truly Bush's fault.

Should we give them roses perhaps?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

No, Baker says we should negotate with Sadr and Iran to disarm the Madhi Army.

Right, that'll work. And after Muqtada takes over as the new religious head of non-Kurdish Iraq, Iran's new puppet, Baker will send Scowcroft over to raise a glass.

[Jorge]

They should have dealt with fat boy way back when they had the chance...and it wouldn't have come to this.

Now the little creep's gonna drag thousands down with him.

It amazes me how the degenerate Islam masses elevate these zeros as their leaders.

[JustDoItAlways]

We should have taken out al-Sadr and his army when we had the chance.

We should have stopped the Sunni and al-qaeda terrorists from blowing up more than 100 Shia civilians daily when we had the chance.

We blew the chances and I don't blame the Shias for finally having enough of the bombs and beheading and deciding to directly take on the Sunni terrorists in direct combat and direct tit-for-tat beheadings.

Maybe the Iraqi government should have stopped it sooner. Maybe the US should have stopped it sooner. But any man can only take seeing his fellow tribemen getting blown up and beheaded for so long before he steps up to the plate and takes on the job himself.

I am afraid we have to let them fight it out.

If the al-aqaeda terrorists win the battle, we have to go back in and really kick butt this time.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Step 1) Mookie gets a 50 cal attitude adjustment TOMORROW!

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

We had a chance in April of 2004 to take out this scumbag now it looks like we're going to pay for it one way or another.

[jmc1969]

We had a chance in August 2004 as well.

[jmc1969]

The Badr militia has been targeting insurgent leaders since 2004.

The Madhi Army doesn't target insurgents. The Madhi Army is a bunch of cowards that find dozens of Sunni women and children and butcher them to show their manhood.

The Madhi Army are cowardly monsters like al-Qaeda.

[CPT Clay]

Allegra bump

[dr_who_2]

Correction--What did the Saudis do when Hussein invaded Kuwait?

[dr_who_2]

I'm sure you're right. Unfortunately, I asked the wrong question.

[sgtbono2002]

Yup: The maggots should be just about done on Al Sadr now, instead of him having 60,000 men .

One of the problems is that all the while we were training an Iraqui police force we have been training Al Sadr's men.

Until the shooting actually starts they cant tell who the guy standing next to them wil be shooting.

I say protect the Kurds and let these people fight to the death of both sides. I cant see where either side is worth protecting.

[Bommer]

Kill al-Sadr. Wait 3 days for the funeral. Let 100,000 of those @ssholes show up for the protest funeral and kill each and everyone of them with no mercy to any one of them! Show their steam corpses on TV and tell the Ny Times they are next!

[CyberAnt]

You are correct. We should have taken the guy out from the beginning. Although they threatened a riot - bit deal. Better to deal with it all at once and be rid of this vermin.

[mrmargaritaville]

Well that would be nice but as we learned from the photos shot in Afghanistan, we don't kill terrorists when they are burying one of their own at a funeral. Got to show 'em some respect.

[Gritty]

[RunningWolf]

All I have is 'my gut' on this one and my gut says that the tide may be turning on Sadr. Time will tell. A year from now I will have egg on my face or not.

For if and when the Iraqi's get serious about their national sovereignty/security, it will be the Iraqis themselves that undo him.

With the US now publicly on track to reduce forces, Sadr and his army should loose the tacit support of a civilian population that naturally would resist an occupying force.

Of course that raises another question of will forces actually be reduced on the proposed time table? Already we are seeing hesitation and balking from several spokesmen who up till now were all for it.

Agree?

[Chgogal]

BTTT

[himno hero]

you have two bullies there both courting their common girlfriend that they want to share

poke each one in the eye... the epicenters of Tehran and Damascus.... and then hit them in the jaw.

do that and the ho's problems go away

[jmc1969]

The Madhi Army didn't grow five fold this past year on the back of Shia hated of America. No, the Madhi Army and al-Qaeda are both being fed today by mutual violence against each other community. If al-Qaeda kills your family in a suicide bomb attack and you are a Shia, more often then not you want revenge and all to many of these young men are taking up arms with the group that causes the most violence to Sunni civilians. And, we know which group that is.

When the Madhi Army kills a Sunni families we are seeing the same gravitiation of Sunni men towards al-Qaeda in Iraq which is the number one group today for young Sunni men to join to get revenge against Shia.

Zarqawi started a really annoying cycle of violence. There may just be one way to break the cycle of violence and that is with the Iraqi Army. The US doesn't have the political will to do what needs to be done and the Iraqi government is too weak and divided to do much of anything right now.

A smart secular young Iraqi Army officer is going to have to step up and end this crap and the US is going to have to let him do it.

[Parrot_was_devastating]

Correction--What did the Saudis do when Hussein invaded Kuwait?

Grinned...allong with U.S. Oil Giants who favored B.P. oil gets its butt kicked in Kuwait.
Anyhoo....the side of world oil play that seldom is tabled openly,
Even though B.P. is technically an ally via Britian,,,,their holdings and potential [lost] oil signatory's in the mid east see them gamed on with no mercy as they say.
B.P. was front sponsor of Badami on North Slope of Alaska [Which I worked on for 2 years plus]...and flopped totally [Insufficient pressure in cache layers....injection format failure....lines froze,....project failure....Geologists got this one wrong....Badami cost 300 Million -turning out only 4 Million BBL's]
B.P. also got clobbered by Russia....Putin suckered B.P. into voluminous front money for field signatory which flopped aswell...with B.P. getting nothing but glares from their finance division.
Part of B.P. morphed into U.S. Amoco [Amoco B.P.]
B.P. has some of its Iraqi oil signatory back....but that is in Shia south....so how secure is that : )

[ARealMothersSonForever]

"The Mahdi Army, led by Moqtada al-Sadr, may number
as many as 60,000 fighters. It has directly challenged U.S. and
Iraqi government forces, and it is widely believed to engage in
regular violence against Sunni Arab civilians. Mahdi fighters
patrol certain Shia enclaves, notably northeast Baghdad’s teeming
neighborhood of 2.5 million known as “Sadr City.” As the
Mahdi Army has grown in size and influence, some elements
have moved beyond Sadr’s control.
The Badr Brigade is affiliated with the Supreme Council
for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which is led by
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. The Badr Brigade has long-standing ties
with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Many Badr members
have become integrated into the Iraqi police, and others
play policing roles in southern Iraqi cities. While wearing the
uniform of the security services, Badr fighters have targeted
Sunni Arab civilians. Badr fighters have also clashed with the
Mahdi Army, particularly in southern Iraq."

From page 5 of the report

[Parrot_was_devastating]

Parrot posts above...

So then.....with Russia sitting in the wings and hoping for Iranian Victory in Iraq,
Will She who sends the black spot ,allong with Emperor Husband and Democrat flying monkeys,
Become Vienna Summer and jilt CFR Dem globalists like Zbiegniew Brzenzski by letting Russia near the prize of mid east oil?

[uncbob]

Back in 91 when we had the manpower to do the job I said we ought to seize the ME Oil Fields

Arabs can't protect them and that was the 2nd time we had to go over to protect the flow of oil

[ARealMothersSonForever]

"RECOMMENDATION 34: The question of the future U.S. force presence must be on the table for discussion as the national reconciliation dialogue takes place. Its inclusion will increase the likelihood of participation by insurgents and militia leaders, and thereby increase the possibilities for success."

It seems that the concept is to require Maliki to have militias outlawed-

"NATIONAL RECONCILIATION
By the end of 2006–early 2007: ➤Approval of the Provincial Election Law and setting an election date ➤Approval of the Petroleum Law ➤Approval of the De-Baathification Law ➤Approval of the Militia Law
By March 2007:
➤A referendum on constitutional amendments (if it is necessary)
By May 2007:
➤Completion of Militia Law implementation ➤Approval of amnesty agreement ➤Completion of reconciliation efforts

[Torie]

It may well be that the end game is the installation of a new authoritarian figure, who rules by fear. Saddam redux, hopefully less dangerous. The alternative is partition, de facto or de jure. I really don't see an elected government surviving to run an Iraq as presently constituted. On that one, I don't agree with Bush's optimism.

[RunningWolf]

A smart secular young Iraqi Army officer is going to have to step up

And he will become the next leader of Iraq. I hope he will see the US as a strategic ally.

[Palladin]

Ack! How did you get inside Hitlery's head like that?

[swheats]

Al Sadr and bin Laden must be the laurel and hardy of terror.

[Parrot_was_devastating]

Russia,China....Total Fina of France,
must be licking their chops at the prospect of getting back in on their lost Saddam Hussein given oil signatories.
The oil Giants from the 50's who split Iran 30% each [U.S.-Standard oil]/B.P. Dutch Royal Shell saw their fortunes returned when Mossadeq was couped and the Shah installed,
only to have all that go south.
Royal Dutch Shell may take a stake in Iran's 3bn barrel Yadavan oilfield as part of a development deal between China's Sinopec and Iran that it helped prepare, Reuters reported. The deal gives Shell an option to participate in the project, a spokesman is quoted as saying.

DRS quietly moving into Iran while U.S. and B.P. try to stay ahead of Shia and who so ever wills...Loot Iraqi oil.

There's alot of schemeing and theiving going on,
Chairs are definitely getting kicked accross the floor in some boardrooms.

[adam_smith_76]

The Middle East is all about raw power, not the rule of law. Our completely jacked-up post-invasion strategy failed to recognize this. We issued an arrest warrant for al-Sadr, but then decided it would be better to bring him into the political process. Thus, al-Sadr and the insurgents learned that we are weak.

We should have killed al-Sadr and all of his top "commanders" and put their heads on pikes for all to see. We won't do that because of liberal hand-wringing.

The problem is that everyone knows we won't fight Roman style, so we are destined to lose every one of these post-war pacifications in the Middle East. And this is why we will never stabilize Iraq. The Iraqis must do it, and they will after the sectarian groups fill the streets with the blood of their enemies and install the next tyrant.

[Parrot_was_devastating]

Ack! How did you get inside Hitlery's head like that?

Guess you had to be there...
Bill said anything infront of me.....seldom turned the lights out.
Hillary wanted me dead......thought I knew too much.

I really caught hell from her after saying...

"Rakk!......Put Brown on the plane....Brown on the plane....nobody knows...nowbody knows"

[PhilDragoo]

Certainly Gore-Chernomyrdin facilitated Russian money laundering. Gore being the junior of the Gore Protectors of Armand Hammer "Money Talks and It Speaks Russian".

And Strobe Russophile/Soviet Apologist Talbott looms large in the Clinton Janus' legend.

A remake of the rollicking hit of the 'Sixties "Road to Moscow"? Sure, why not.

It was Strobe Talbott who let Kapitan Man get the intel and get out of Dodge in 1997. 42 was being innaugurated the morning Pavel Borodin was arrested en route to that fete, 42 having accused Chernomyrdin of that money laundering in the debates, evoking the threat of lawsuit--unfulfilled after the Borodin shot.

The New Tone has looked into all of their eyes and seen a soul--but then, The New Tone is a hallucinogen.

In my view, The Clinton Janus and Uncle Vlad share the same tactical morality, i.e., say what must be said, kill whom must be killed, be very nice, bear any boredom, to insure the success of the Comintern.

Or to succeed with the intern.

Then there's that unresolved myth of the Money Plane.

Snakes, oil, and snake oil--yes, all that follows a Rod-'em regime change.

[PhilDragoo]

[eureka!]

bttt

[Parrot_was_devastating]

Dispelling Disinformation by William F. Jasper
excerpts:

Golitsyn is probably the most important Soviet defector ever to have reached the West. The reason for this is that he revealed the details of a long-range deception strategy of which the West previously had no knowledge. When debriefed, he emphasized, as he has done ever since, that because of his background of working within the "inner KGB" — a super-secret strategic planning department of which not even ordinary KGB officers were aware — he was uniquely qualified to inform the West about Soviet strategy. One of the superficial criticisms frequently made about Golitsyn is that he has been "out of the loop" since defecting to Finland with his wife and daughter in 1961, so how could he possibly know what was going on? People who say this reveal a failure to understand Golitsyn's significance, and what he has to offer the West.
In summary, Golitsyn's importance is that, unlike all other defectors, Golitsyn discusses and elaborates upon Soviet strategy. By contrast, defectors like Oleg Gordievsky discuss mundane matters concerning the manner of their "escape" from the Soviet Union, perhaps revealing valuable operational information in order to gain the confidence of (in Gordievsky's case) Britain's MI6, before inserting strategic disinformation in their output. Golitsyn is different. He has spent his years in the West explaining patiently that the Soviets follow Leninist strategic principles, and are engaged in a deadly long-term war against the West. The Soviet revolutionaries have followed Lenin's advice to "work by other means."
At a superficial but easily explained level, Golitsyn's public fame derives from the fact that in 1980, he completed a work called New Lies for Old, which was in fact published in 1984. This book contained explicit predictions concerning the future course of Soviet strategy, which events subsequently proved to have been correct. In his recent book, published in 1994, entitled Wedge: The Secret War between the FBI and CIA, Mark Riebling explained that after carrying out a careful analysis of Golitsyn's predictions in New Lies for Old, he had found that out of a total of 148 falsifiable predictions, 139 had been verified by 1993 — "an accuracy rating of 94%." This achievement places Golitsyn in a league of his own, putting most other observers to shame.

In his first letter to me, Golitsyn also wrote that "I think of sending you through my lawyer more extracts from my memos to CIA for possible publication in Soviet Analyst after this year's US presidential elections." I spent the summer and fall of 1992 wondering why he had made his decision to send me further Memoranda, dependent upon the outcome of the 1992 presidential election. After Clinton was elected, sure enough, we received a huge parcel (in early December 1992) containing well over 100 pages of his Memoranda to the CIA. It became apparent that Golitsyn felt that Clinton's election necessitated the publication of these Memoranda; and in his cover letter dated December 1992, he authorized me to quote from these documents in Soviet Analyst. In March 1993, it was agreed that I would edit the complete file of Memoranda to the CIA for publication. The Perestroika Deception is the consequence of our collaboration.

For those reading allong....as I know you are well aware of this Phil

Date: Thu, 15 Feb 96 16:13:40 EDT SUBJECT: IPS -COMMUNIST TIES
Hi All, I have a copy of the declassified FBI documents that tie the Clintons and many of their administration to a communist organization called the Institute For Policy Studies. In all there are more than 50 pages to this document file, so I'll do a summary.
It may take a few notes:
The Institute For Policy Studies was formed in 1963 by Peter Weiss and Cora Rubin, daughter of Samuel Rubin. The organization is funded by the Samuel Rubin Foundation. Samuel Rubin was a member of the Comintern of the Communist Party, which was the inner circle of Lenin, and helped foment the Russian peasants into revolt in 1917. He left Russia at some point during the revolution, and came to the U.S., where he made a fortune using the name, "Faberge", for his cosmetic company. The Faberge family, who were "White Russian" (non-communist), and who also fled Russia, sued Rubin for using their name for a company whose profits supported the spread of communism, and won a settlement. Rubin was assisted in his financial endeavors by billionaire Armand Hammer. Hammer has long been suspected of being a member of the Communist Party. After the downfall of the USSR, the KGB files were opened and Hammer's membership in the Communist Party was proven.
The Soviet publication, Izvestia, confirms that Armand Hammer was a Soviet agent, who personally carried the money from Lenin to the United States to establish the Communist Party USA. Back to the Institute For Policy Studies (IPS). The FBI has compiled 2705 pages of documents on this organization, 1743 of which are available to the public through the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI has withheld 962 pages of documents, and one of the reasons given is, "specifically authorized by an Executive (Presidential) Order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense." Another reason for withholding the 962 documents was given as follows.... "Records or information were compiled for law enforcement purposes and could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source." "The IPS is described as a Washinton-based "Think Factory", which helped train extremist who incite violence in the United States and whose educational research serves as a cover for intrigue and political agitation" (FBI file 175-398).
Another description given is that the "IPS apparently exercises considerable influence in the New Left Movement and may have as its goal the destruction of the United States Government/" Mainstream media, usually very liberal, has described the IPS as follows: Wall Street Journal... "A funnel for disinformation", Forbes.... "A radical Washington propaganda mill", National Review... "The perfect intellectual front for Soviet activities which would be resisted if they were to originate openly from the KGB." DEREK SHEARER, a member of IPS, has been described as one of Bill Clinton's closest friends. Roger Altman (former Sec. of Treasury) stated, "Derek is a very old and close friend of Bill Clinton's, and among the advisors he is probably the oldest and closest friend." George Stephanopolis describes Shearer as both "a friend and advisor". Derek Shearer is the step-brother of Strobe Talbott, who was the former editor of TIME magazine, and Bill Clinton's roommate at Oxford. Derek's sister, Brooke Shearer, is a very close friend of Hillary Clinton, and is her frequent travelling companion. Prior to the 1992 election, Clinton appointed Shearer as his top economic advisor (Wall Street Journal - Sept. 11, 1992).
In 1980, Shearer wrote a book titled, "Economic Democracy: The Challange of the 1980's", in which he explained, "Socialism has a bad name in America and no amount of wishful thinking is going to change that... the words, economic democracy are an adequate replacement." Shearer proposed the economic dismantling of American's free enterprise system and that all businesses be controlled by government socialist planners. Shearer states that his 'economic democracy' is fashioned in part according to the teachings of Antonio Gramsci, founder of the Italian Communist Party, and one of this century's formost Marxist theoreticians (from Shearer's book). In the 1970's Derek Shearer created and ran the platform of Tom Hayden in Santa Monica, California. The platform was called the Campaign for Economic Democracy. Shearer's wife was elected mayor of Santa Monica, and she appointed Derek and fellow activists to the City Commission. Shearer's anti-business edicts crippled Santa Monica's economy and earned that city the nickname of the "Peoples Republic of Santa Monica." Shearer has spoken of a plan to elect a socialist minded President who would help advance his Economic Democracy program (National Review, Sept. 14, 1992). STROBE TALBOTT, as mentioned above, is the step-brother of Derek Shearer, and formerly an editor of TIME magazine, and earlier a roommate of Bill Clinton's at Oxford. Talbott is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Since it's founding in 1921, the CFR has been dedicated to forming a socialist world government under the auspices of the U.N. Other members of the CFR, include IPS co-founder, Richard Barnet, and Cora Rubin (dau. of Samuel Rubin), Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and most of Clinton's cabinet. LEON PANETTA, LES ASPIN, and ANTHONY LAKE are all members of the IPS, with Anthony Lake serving in the capacity of instructor at the Washington-based school. All three are CFR members as well. MORTON HALPRIN, a member of IPS, was considered (but rejected) as Assistant Secretary of Defense under Aspin. Halprin has been one of the foremost supporters of turning U.S. troops over to the U.N. command. Halprin was a friend and assistant of Frank Donner, a member of the Communist Party USA, who advocated the dissolution of all U.S. intelligence agencies. EDWARD F. FEIGHAN (D-Ohio, retired) was Bill Clinton's campaign Communications Director. Feighan has worked closely with both the IPS and the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), which was co- founded by Jahn Gerassi and Michael Locker of Castro's Venceremos Brigade (FBI File SF 100-66966 AIRTEL & FBI file NYFO #105-86160). NACLA recieved major funding from IPS, and has become a direct support group for Marxist insurgencies worldwide. JOHNETTA COLE is closely associated with IPS and other anti-American groups. Cole was in a leadership role in the Pro-Castro Vencenemos Brigade, which was controlled by the Communist Party USA in conjunction with Havana. She was a founding sponsor of the U.S. Peace Council, a Communist Party USA front organization. HILLARY CLINTON first had contact with the IPS while at Yale. She served on the board of editors of the quarterly, Yale Review of Law and Social Action. The Spring 1970 issue featured and aricle by IPS director Robert Borosage. While serving as Director and Chair of the Board of the New World Foundation in 1987/1988 Hillary Clinton gave money to several far left groups including IPS. In addition, Hillary Clinton gave money money to pro-communist groups, who were closely associated with IPS. Hillary gave $5000.00 to the Committee in Support of the People of El Salvador (CISPES - a supporter of Marxist Salavadoran guerillas), and which has been classified as a communist front organization. Hillary gave $15,000.00 to the National Lawyers Guild, an official adjunct of the Communist Party USA. Committee on Un-American Activities, House Report 3123 on National Lawyers Guild - 1950: "NLG is the foremost legal bulwark of the Communist Party (and) it's front organizations (which) since its inception has never failed to rally to the legal defense of the Communist Party and individual members thereof, including known espionage agents." IPS Chairman, Peter Weiss, served on the Board of Trustees of the National Lawyers Guild.