Because it's a culture of leading from the rear.
Posted on 03/28/2008 12:35:04 PM PDT by tobyhill
A senior commander in the Mahdi army said today the militia was fighting a battle for survival in Basra against a rival Shia faction seeking to obliterate it ahead of September elections.
Fighting broke out in Basra on Tuesday when Iraqi government forces launched an offensive against Shia militia in the city. Overnight, US jets carried out air strikes in support of Iraqi forces in at least two locations.
Shiek Ali al-Sauidi, a prominent member of the Moqtada al-Sadr-led movement in Basra, said his men were being targeted not by the Iraqi government but by government militias loyal to the rival Supreme Islamic Council faction.
"They are a executing a very well drawn plan. They are trying to exterminate the Sadrists and cut and isolate the movement before the September local elections," he said in a telephone interview with the Guardian.
"The Sadrists are the only Shia resistance movement against the occupiers and we have wide popularity. We are going through a battle of existence we will fight to the end. We either survive this or we are finished."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Why is Sadr still alive? He should have been removed years ago -— when will we start FIGHTING this war to win it ??
Don't eff with the "occupiers", Numbnutz. Theres no time left in the calandar for your crap.
Most excellent news.
“.....or we are finished.”
It’s amazing that no mater how many of the little fish get whacked - the big ones seem to survive to continue to mouth crap.
Survive until that Hellfire smacks through the back windshield.
Perhaps this is the end of Mookie and his minions? I hope so.
We should have done for that guy years ago.
Exactly. It’s just one step short of the Mahdi Terrorist admitting a total failure on their part.
The big fish eventually end up starving to death because they have nothing to feed on.
Now, now that wouldn't be politically correct would it?
The only war they're fighting for is the war of world opinion. Which is always a loser. We could end this relatively quickly, IMHO, if they'd just change the rules of engagement.
If the militias are soundly defeated on the battlefield, its survivors will get into the IED and suicide attack business of AQI and the Sunni Insurgency, to exact revenge and fan the flames of chaos. This barbaric place (Iraq) is going to take a decade or more to settle down.
What - are we short of bombs? If I were Commander in Chief I would have the B-52s flying continuously until Basra and any other “pockets of resistance” were piles of rubble and any would-be terrorists were dead.
The big fish eventually end up starving to death because they have nothing to feed on.
Well THAT big fish can live off his fat @ss for a while before starving to death - of course, it will be worth the wait!
Seems like we’ve been playing whack-a-mole with Sadr for four years now. He pops up, starts trouble, we swat down him and his Mahdi army, then six months later he surfaces again. Why he hasn’t been eliminated is beyond me.
Amen to VICTORY.
Their not on the ropes yet..If they were, they would be screaming for political discourse or peace talks or some such shit. When they do THAT, you know they are on the ropes, they will be looking for a way to buy time to regroup.
“piles of rubble” whoops too late the whole friggin’ place looks like rubble to me 3 stacked rocks is hi-rise
Mookie is in Iran, studying. His father, for whom the Sadrist faction is named and who was a genuine resistance martyr killed by Saddam Hussein, was a respected religious scholar as well as a political leader. His son is a political leader but is not a religious scholar and is not respected in that fashion. He’s in Iran to study and gain the religious certification. It’s also a good place to hole up and not get his ass shot off, but he definitely needs to achieve the religious side of this to be able to gain any more stature.
Forget it Mookie! Petraeus is wise to you. Posting on FR to try to get the US to commit to tactics that would bring victory to your movement, and Iran, is not going to work.
Probably because he is hiding in Iran.
My heart bleeds......we gotta whack this guy this time...send a message to the next guy in line.
I guess they just don’t teach the Gen Curtis E. LeMay school of diplomacy in the military anymore.
I’ll take the “finished” door number 2...
Because it's a culture of leading from the rear.
Collateral damage has it’s merrits, where as smart boms leave the “innocent” alone, the former does what the latter can never do, break the backs of these islamo-fascists into not wanting to EVER F with the USA again.
Let big mouth do what he wants while the military crushes his army and he'll shut up. Without his army, he'll get his due as other Iraqis turn on him. He may just find himself swingin' from a rope like Saddam.
You must break the enemy’s will to fight. Since Viet Nam we have been so concerned about collateral damage that we neglected to win. Consequently, the enemy attacks, kills our people and goes home to his safe haven, puts his feet up and drinks a beer. The liberals love this strategy.
“when will we start FIGHTING this war to win it ??”
I don’t think we know how to do that anymore.
You have no chance to survive. Make your time now.
All your base are belong to us.
IIt’s not so much that, as it is that the DegenoLeft fights to lose.
So that is what the Iraqi primary season is like.
Well let’s see, the 72 virgins are for the little fellows on the front lines. The leaders live pretty much in the lap of luxury far from the battle zones. When they meet their end it’s usually as you say, with a missle through the car’s back window. I wish one would end this arrogant mullah’s leadership.
***The deadline is separate from the three-day ultimatum for gunmen to surrender their arms and renounce violence or face harsher measures, which expires later Friday, government adviser Sadiq al-Rikabi said.
The move instead appeared to be aimed at noncombatants who may have weapons like machine-guns and grenade launchers either for smuggling purposes or to sell to militants or criminal gangs.***
The commanders do, but the folks in Washington Hamstring them so dern bad, they can’t actually do it.
I just posted this:
Looks like the Iraqi army is `earning its spurs’/putting the hurt on the `mookis’.
That’s really great news!
Yes, but what is suh-weeeeeeeeeeeeeet is that it is Iraqis themselves who are kicking Mook’s dupa.
Yep. That is what is defining about it, IMHO. This is the Iraqi federal government 'splainin' that it's going to be the only game in town, and this absolutely needed to happen. I do think Mook and the Iranians would have been wiser to wait until after the U.S. election to provoke this but perhaps they can't for reasons that aren't obvious.
In any case, only one thing is being tested here, and it's Maliki's and his government's determination. He has the troops, the training, the logistics, and most of the popular support (at this moment in time). Who dares, wins.
I think Maliki himself is the one who pushed this offensive.
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