Posted on 6/19/2008, 10:13:55 PM by Ernest_at_the_Beach
According the WaPo it appears the Iranians miscalculated when they backed Sadr instead of the Maliki government:
For the first time since 2003, Iran has stumbled in Iraq. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s decision to confront Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army in Basra and Sadr City last month caught Tehran off guard. The Mahdi Army lost more than face: It surrendered large caches of arms, and many of its leaders fled or were killed or captured. Crucially, the militias lost strategic terrain — Basra and its chokehold on the causeway between Kuwait and Baghdad and Iraq’s oil exports; Sadr City and the threat it posed to Baghdad security. Visiting Basra this month, I saw city walls covered with pro-Maliki graffiti. Commerce is returning to the city center. Trouble spots remain in both places, as Tuesday’s car bombings show, but the Mahdi Army’s unchallenged hold has ended.
Iran wants U.S. forces to leave Iraq and assumes that a friendly Shiite government would then protect Iran’s interests.
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And according to Vali Nasr the only thing the Iranians have succeeded in doing is alienating Maliki, his government and the Shiite community:
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Harry Reid was asked for comment but he appears to be still in hiding….lets ask another Democrat tho, Barbara Boxer:
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) repeatedly attempted to prod Petraeus and Crocker to acknowledge that Iran’s influence inside Iraq has grown even as Americans continue to fight and die in Iraq.
Crocker tried to downplay the issue, calling Iran’s influence a “mixed bag,” but Boxer was having none of it. Crocker also noted that “thousands, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shias” were killed during the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...
One more ping !
“For the first time since 2003, Iran has stumbled in Iraq.”
No bias from the WaPo. Hahaha.
OUTSTANDING commentary at FloppingAces! Thanks Curt!
GRRRRRREAT post! Thanks Ernest!
Iraqi’s finest BUMP! America’s finest BUMP!
This is just too delicious. Now if only the Republicans would hammer the dims on oil and Iraq. Fat chance.
Ahmedinadinnerjacket,
can you say ...
Quagmire?
By Box-a-Rocks and Dirtbag Reid’s definition, we lost the Korean War.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
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