Posted on 03/28/2008 10:07:34 PM PDT by river rat
Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides.
Mehdi Army fighters loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hold their weapons while flashing the V sign in Basra
Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra.
His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the other side without a second thought.
Such turncoats are the thread that could unravel the British Army’s policy in southern Iraq. The military hoped that local forces would be able to combat extremists and allow the Army to withdraw gradually from the battle-scarred and untamed oil city that has fallen under the sway of Islamic fundamentalists, oil smugglers and petty tribal warlords. But if the British taught the police to shoot straight, they failed to instil a sense of unwavering loyalty to the State.
“We know the outcome of the fighting in advance because we already defeated the British in the streets of Basra and forced them to withdraw to their base,” Abu Iman told The Times.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
If Basra falls to Sadr's "army".......then what? It's boiling down to more than a Shiite/Sunni issue -- it seems to be moving toward a Muslim/"Crusader" thing again, with Iran pushing Sadr down our throats..
Do we need to defeat Sadr militia/Iran is a devastating and destructive manner -- or do we simply wait for the Democrats to take us out and had them an easy bloodless victory?
In two weeks time the US troops and Iraqi army will crush the Mahdi terrorists in Basra and all over Iraq.
is that a prediction or a hope?
This has the look of Fallujah I written all over it.
Seems Bush and company did not learn the lesson well enough the first time.
Go in guns ablazing with overwhelming firepower, destroy the enemy unmercifully, and you don’t have to do Fallujah II.
Tet Offensive Part 2.
In one week or less time, J is being generous. Our guys piled in on this yesterday to turn this around.
That’s probably about how much time we have before things in Basra spin out of control and SPREADS.....
As a big time fan of the British soldier and much less of an admirer of their leadership at times I agree with you 100%.
Basra needs the a$$ kicking it apparently missed out on under British rule. The cops in Fallujah used to switch sides too, the IA as well. We need a cleansing in southern Iraq.
Leave W out of this.
Give credit to Petraus when this is cleaned up.
Is the timing of Putin’s play for ‘oil’ futures connected with Iran’s move in Basra?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993428/posts
No, this has the look of the re-defeat of the Mahdi Army.
This is Iran funding criminals and the Iraqi govt shutting it down:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993397/posts
The worst police in Iraq is in Basra, but the army is capable and reliable ... (Michael Yon) ...
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-frontlines.html
Nothing to do with religion, it is power and money...
This is defeatist media babble.
Well, it’s not just Sadr’s militia that is involved. There’s the Badr Brigade, and other militias associated with the ruling parties that are fighting. Lucky for us, the Shiites aren’t united with Sadr.
I’m beginning to think the Brits never have come to terms with the absolute untrustworthiness of militant Islamists...
Or maybe — the Islamists are exercising payback for “Lawrence”..
They will not EVER be admitted to their gentleman’s clubs in London — but they may own them one day...
ping
How are things?
And that's the thing that runs through my mind, the more they send at our boys, the more that gets killed. Whether shiite or sunni or Iranian, it doesn't matter. Even when they want to die, the American soldier and those trained by him keeps sending them straight to hell. This battle is important and it is so huge, bigger than anyone forsaw but it is winnable.
Mookie has the backing of Iran. Hardly what I’d call a “Muslim/Crusader thing”. But good analysis of the immediate situation. The Brits really didn’t do a thorough job now, did they?
If Iraq is EVER to be a “stand alone” entity - free of blackmail by Sadr and his type -— Basra needs to be a major “Sadr milita” gravesite and wasteland.....along with how ever much of Sadr City within Baghdad must be leveled to “make the point”....
Jihad is war..... These Jihadists THINK they have seen war.
War can be a real bitch when a World Power determines to “make war”...... not play tit for tat slap face...
Why are we wasting blood and treasure on these pukes. Turn Basra into a parking lot.
Sadr and his militia - with the backing of Iran - has CONSTANTLY called the “Muslim brotherhood” to join in their Jihad to drive the “Occupiers, Crusaders, Americans, etc..” out of Iraq..
Iraq was drawing “foreign” Jihadists from all over the world to Iraq to “fight the Crusaders” in the name of Islam... For a while, Iraq was the best shit magnet in the world, drawing Jihadist to their death.... Hell, for years - it was almost like shooting Jihadists over a baited field!
Obviously — Sadr was to fill the vacuum with HIS Shiite Muslim “army”...
All of this is a big validation of President Bush in Iraq.
The British/ Democrat theory of warfighting has been dealt a devastating but empircally proven critique.
Soft does not sell in war.
The Americans never promoted the soft approach and endured considerable European and global ridicule for their harsh tactics throughout the larger parts of Iraq.
Now the reality is transparent. The larger hard segments of Coalition forces will crush the soft turncoats of Basrah.
It is only a matter of time. And while every moment of that time will be exploited by the Anti American media to Blame Bush it will not be enough to allow the Mahdi army to prevail. Sadr has turned tail and Bush has nothing to lose politically.
Hundreds of Sadrist traitors have already been killed and many more will be. All of these deaths are the fault of European style war fighting.
Praise to Bush, Petraus and the great American and Irqi forces.
Precisely....
Wars NEVER end until one side has suffered more death and destruction than they can tolerate......
The ONLY exception - is when “Politicians” decide to quit fighting and come home — handing the enemy an undeserved and criminal victory.... Vietnam, Somalia, etc....
Proving my first point - by establishing the current “Democrat” party has a zero tolerance of “pain” when it comes to war.....
It is either that zero tolerance of pain - or the current Democrat party is one with the enemy! No, that’s not possible — is it??????
Execute all of the police who switched sides, if they don’t get killed in the fighting. Summarily, as soon as they are identified!
The news here said Nasiryah fell to the goons too.
Liquidate el-Sadr. Problem solved.
It’s almost as if we didn’t see this coming.../sarc off
Kudos to our troops and Commander in Chief! Kick their ass, no prisoner all must die now.
Hadn’t heard that ...yet.
It been far too long since the last time a major case of whoop ass was delivered to Sadr’s thugs or to the hoodlums in Basra...
The Brits NEVER levied a blood tax on the Jihadists large enough to keep them in line... Those thugs in black masks actually believe they’re an army.....
Long past time to fight them using our destructive capabilities and “Chicago Rules”.....
Where is “here”?
We can hope that he has learned from his earlier mistakes (e.g., Mosul) and will do it right this time.
Considering how they are not following Mookie's commands, I doubt that would do it.
Considering how they are not following Mookie's commands, I doubt that would do it.
Yep..
Politicians go blind or take the path best for them — warriors bleed and die... Many times needlessly.
We’re a large nation, with lots of National Cemeteries to bury their mistakes.
As it has been, as it shall be..
Visit one and you may hear the cries of anguish....
I think JV is right. Every time Sadr’s militia has taken us on they have been routed. The same thing will happen this time. The key to knowing when they’ve had their butts sufficiently whipped will be their call for a truce.
> Such turncoats are the thread that could unravel the British Army’s policy in southern Iraq.
The British Army has a long history of knowing what to do with turncoats. During the Sepoy Rebellion mutineers were tied across the front of British field cannon and blown to smithereens.
They ought to dust that old trick off in Iraq.
Be very skeptical of all reporting on these events.
Too many single source unconfirmed reports with no atribution showing up in the MSM...
Propaganda is being feed into the system en-mass...
If you eliminate enough of them it wont be a truce, it will be a surrender glossed over by the MSM?
It is good to get traitors out of the ranks. Now, they can be killed or jailed.
That's never happened before...
I remember the days when Iraq was a "stand alone" entity. Hussein was denounced by the USA and allies for killing his own people in order to govern and maintain order. Hussein's government was toppled and he paid the ultimate price for his brutal form of government.
Turn the clock forward and what do we have? Chaos, killing of Iraqis and the threat of turning cities into wasteland. Is that really an improvement? I'm sure the Iraqi citizens will never be able to thank the day when foreign troops came to improve their lives by turning their country into a wasteland.
American soft is far harder than any European policy.
Some journalists such as CNN are playing this kind of story every hour and adding the comment that the Iraq war is disastrous.
Two words: Arc Light
Turn the clock forward and what do we have? Chaos, killing of Iraqis and the threat of turning cities into wasteland. Is that really an improvement? I'm sure the Iraqi citizens will never be able to thank the day when foreign troops came to improve their lives by turning their country into a wasteland."
By your reasoning -- we should have left Germany an unmolested Nazi paradise busily murdering non Aryans and their European neighbors -- and Japan an undisturbed invader and exterminator of it's neighbors...
Both countries were also "stand alone" entities -- but unfortunately behaving in a manner impossible to "ignore"..
Today, both Germany and Japan have become model nations whose people have been "unchained" to become whatever they are capable of becoming...
The HOPE is that the people of the middle east will have the same result - assuming they can put aside the Islamist goals of world domination, enslavement or destruction.
It my personal opinion - this will NOT happen.
In my opinion we face centuries of needing to defend ourselves by suppressing militant Islam and Jihad.
In Hussein's case - he too was killing his own people, and torturing them in manners impossible to discuss in this forum.. Hussein had also killed a goodly number of Iranians, Kurds, and lets not forget his own Shiites in the swamps of Southern Iraq in the Basra area of today's interest..
Additionally -- lets us not forget his invasion of Kuwait, in an attempt to control more of the oil that is critical to the entire free world...
Perhaps Hussein's biggest error, was his routine threats and possibly false statements of his "nuclear capabilities" -- further compounded by his refusal to allow effective oversight by the "inspectors"...
We know now - that Hussein was buying U.N., French, Russian and AMERICAN "champions" through his bribery scams hidden within the "Oil for Food" program....
Hussein's Iraq was hardly a "stand alone" entity the world could tolerant "standing"..... he had to be either brought down or joined in his war against his neighbors..
History will judge if we chose correctly.
Impossible to prepare omelets, with breaking eggs.
Much of Iraq's current problems have festered for centuries - and it's as related to their religious and tribal issues as it is to our presence which also enrages them...
I guess the lesson is -- if you wish to behave as assholes, try to limit your "acting out" to your own country and your own citizens...
I guess some folks simply need to learn, one simply can't go about kicking 800 pound gorillas in the ass and expect to get away with it forever....
Notice -- the world doesn't usually interfere VIOLENTLY with countries practicing genocide on "their own" --- but tend to respond VIOLENTLY when those same countries attack others.
CNN will one day, hopefully pay a price for their obvious anti American bias....
All wars are disastrous for EVERYONE - losers more so than winners..
Folks need to learn that war - JIHAD - is not a fun thing..
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