Posted on 03/29/2008 9:03:51 PM PDT by DJ Elliott
With the fifth day of fighting in Baghdad, Basrah and the South completed, the Mahdi Army has suffered major losses over the past 36 hours. The Mahdi Army has not faired well over the past five days of fighting, losing an estimated two percent of its combat power, using the best case estimate for the size of the militia.
A look at the open source press reports from the US and Iraqi military and the established newspapers indicates 134 Mahdi Army fighters were killed, 81 were wounded, 98 were captured, and 30 surrendered during the past 36 hours.
Since the fighting began on Tuesday 347 Mahdi Army fighters were killed, 531 were wounded, 343 were captured, and 30 surrendered. The US and Iraqi security forces have killed 125 Mahdi Army fighters in Baghdad alone, while Iraqi security forces have killed 140 Mahdi fighters in Basra.
While the size of the Mahdi Army is a constant source of debate, media accounts often put the Mahdi Army at anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 fighters. With an estimated 1,000 Mahdi fighters killed, captured, wounded and surrendered, the Mahdi Army has taken an attrition rate of 1.5 to 2.5 percent over the past five days.
(Excerpt) Read more at longwarjournal.org ...
Since JAM is now asking for help from Hezbolla, I suspect that they are getting hit worse... http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3524897,00.html
As to the report of 40 defectors in Sadr City, ISF only has 15 unaccounted for. Claiming three times as many is standard practice for JAM...
The term for the JAM victory so far is Phyric.
Another two months of victories like this and JAM will be gone...
Just in time for elections without them...
When the leader escapes from Teheran, hang him.
I’ll tell you how to spell Pyrrhic if you’ll tell me what JAM stands for.
That’s a shame;)
Sweet!
Jaish al Mahdi, IIRC.
Jaish al Mahdi
And I hit the publish too quick...
lol
PS: Also, expect a "cease fire (Hudna) offer soon from that cowardly Butt-Boy (aka Mookie).
Thanks for help with the alphabet soup.
None of it means a hill of beans if we refuse to kill Al-Sadr (again).
Somebody please comfort John Moore.
What that says is that its likely our guys decided to make the timing their own and to disrupt the Iranian networks and Al Sadr before they could mount a Tet. If my speculation is correct, then hats off to the allies for innovative and aggressive preemption. We can play the election as well as Iran.
What you say makes good sense, however I wonder if the democrat primary is not the target here. And if so, who would most likely benefit from the Insurgent “Tet”? Obama...something to think about.
Hopefully tomorrow, it’ll be 4%.
I wonder if they run around in groups, which would make them easy prey for one successful hit from a warplane or artillery.
...and 10% by Wednesday.
But you know Mookie isn’t really going to start getting nervous until over 20,000 of his thugs have been killed.
Send treats to the troops...
Great because you did it!
www.AnySoldier.com
I like this kind of reporting. Just the facts and no BS. Oh for the news stories of old.
One recommendation........take LESS [zero would be best] prisoners because they will come back!!
There was a nice lil’ video just shown on our local ABC news this evening - I was amazed the MSM let us see it!
It was filmed as 4 Mahdi freaks were firing from somewhere in Sadr City, east Baghdad === a Hellfire missile took ‘em all out and it was a sweet sight. One moment, 4 terrorists firing their AK47s, the next moment they all went up in flames and smoke. Fried terrorists. No, make that fricasseed terrorists.
No more problem. Just kill the right one first and we will be done with this in 48 hours.
PS. In Texas, it’s legal to bait em.
Great work you do on LWJ. Keep it up.
- Sadr already asked to negotiate yesterday...
- And is asking for help from hezbollah today...
Which means he knows he is losing.
- And the PM’s statements are now comparing JAM to AQI...
- Demonizing them more and more...
Which means he may have been surprised at the level of resistance but, he knows he is winning.
Excellent !
I like that. I’ll have an order of fricaseed terrorist for breakfast. Make it two orders.
Ping!
Excellent indeed. Two more weeks and the Mahdi terrorists will be utterly defeated all over Iraq.
Yes, and for that reason (and some others) I reject the figure of 40,000 combat effectives. 40,000 punks with ski-masks, maybe. Serious shooters? Not a chance.
This will end badly for JAM. They're caught between the Iranians and the legitimate Shi'a leadership in Iraq. Fat boy wants help from the Syrians after threatening to wipe out the Sunnis. Good luck with that. The Iranians have botched this one and Mookie's going to be left holding the bag. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Optimistic.
Two Months. And there will still be some left.
JAM will go insergent and play the AQ game once it becomes clear that holding is suicide. That mop up will take time...
This is house cleaning before the Iraqi elections. No Tet by this group...
I always figured that Paul al-Weller guy for a jihadi . . .
The Mahdi army is big on filming scenes of two or three hooded “Jihadists” running to a corner - peeking around and firing a dozen rounds full auto down an empty street and then ducking back behind a nearby wall.....
In as much as they are in civilian “clothing”, masked and without any military force I.D. or designators — NONE should be entitled to Geneva Conventions protection...nor POW status...
As the battle lines get more firmly established, as it seems to be happening in this case with the Mahdi fighters trying to stand their ground and the ISF attacking them, the enemy's positions will be easier to identify and our air power will destroy them. So the early days will have been their best in this battle when they caught the ISF off guard. I suspect they'll soon realize this and fade back into hit-n-run tactics.
I had no idea that DJ knows BR!
Props to your reporting.
Kudos to you, senor, in your analysis of the current situation.
You got that right! The late Shah of Iran refused to allow some dedicated officers to “remove” Khomeini while he was in France and look what happened. None of it would have. A lot fewer of my friends would have died.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/staff.php
LLS
LOL... good one! I’m glad you asked, for me, too.
Many fewer of my friends would have died, too... both Americans and Iraqis.
Mookie, Mookie Lend Me Your Comb.
I think this has song parody possibilities. The original was a big hit in 1959 and needs to be updated for Mookie. Take a look at this VIDEO.
Mookie, Mookie Lend Me Your Tomb?
Significant losses? Let’s go for overwhelming and total!
NAJAF, Iraq, March 30, 2008 (AFP) - Representatives of Moqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi authorities have begun talks to end fighting between security forces and the radical Shiite cleric's militiamen, an aide to Sadr told AFP Sunday."
Please pray...
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