Posted on 03/31/2008 8:58:25 AM PDT by moderatewolverine
Among the worst mistakes of the Iraq war has been starting battles we weren't prepared to finish. Think Fallujah in 2004. We hope Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki absorbed that lesson before he began his campaign last week to defeat rogue militias in Basra.
Yesterday's political maneuvering amid a new cease-fire offer by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is hard to read from afar. "Anyone carrying a weapon and targeting government institutions will not be one of us," Mr. Sadr said. The government welcomed the offer while saying it would continue its Basra campaign, and it wasn't clear how many in the Mahdi Army and its offshoots would even heed Mr. Sadr. There were also conflicting reports of whether the militias would give up their weapons.
The worst outcome would be for Iraqis to conclude that Mr. Maliki and the Iraqi Security Forces are backing down amid more resistance than they expected. This would be a blow to the morale of the fledgling army just when it has been gaining confidence, and it would damage Mr. Maliki's own credibility with the Iraqi public. To adapt Napoleon's famous admonition, if you decide to take Basra -- take Basra.
(Excerpt) Read more at primetimepolitics.com ...
All one needs to do is see what happened anytime Israel tried a ceasefire or truce with these Muslim animals.
al-Sadr should’ve been taken out a long time ago.
From the OIF videos I’ve seen of the Basra fighting, the Iraqi Security Forces are not hurting for overwhelming firepower.
You can't entirely blame them when the administration has clearly ordered the military leadership in Iraq NOT to accuse Iran. They always always add some sort of weasel words that it can't be "proved" that the Iranian government is responsible. Maybe it's rogue factions. Maybe it's loose canon terrorists. Maybe it's . . . anything but the Iranian government.
They wouldn't be saying that if the Commander in Chief hadn't ordered them to.
Interesting point.
What I've observed over the past few months:
December 2007: Things are calm in Iraq. Nothing to report. US voters don't care. It's not a factor in the Nov election.
January 2008: Things are calm in Iraq. Nothing to report. US voters don't care. It's not a factor in the Nov election.
February 2008: Things are calm in Iraq. Nothing to report. US voters don't care. It's not a factor in the Nov election.
March 2008: There's fighting in Iraq. This is big! This is huge! This is going to be a major factor in the Nov election! Film at 11!
Iranian general played key role in brokering Iraq cease-fire
Roger. Roger.
Let the Iranians pick a fight with the Iraqis and then we back up our Iraqi allies. That way, we don't look like aggressors.
Strategery.
Maybe there's never been a president in office with so many high-bandwidth armchair pajamabloggers with so much minute-by-minute news/data second guessing every breath he takes.
Assinine for someone with an anonymous handle on a message board suggesting that the Commander in Chief who has the joint chiefs of staff and "a couple other advisors" reporting to him "doesn't realize" something that someone on this board does.
There were people who bitched and moaned about LBJ picking bombing targets, and there were people in Washington's command who thought he was a fool. Had LBJ won the Vietnam war he'd also be a hero today.
If we win in Iraq, Bush will never get the credit due.
When it comes to intramural warfare it’s an Arab tradition to ‘do a deal’ rather than settle things. Don’t be surprised if Maliki tip toes right up to the point of total victory in Basra only to back-off at the last minute. He is Shia, after all, and one would presume that he wouldn’t want to weaken that base to the point where his Sunni rivals could kick him out in a Coup.
....maybe Maliki doing what's right will finally start to calm the Hatfield-McCoy mentality of that region that's been going on for hundreds of years.
(Frontpage Mag had it yesterday. My server wouldn't get on FreeRepublic until the afternoon.)
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