Last October, 2007, Moktada al Sadr and Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, two of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite leaders, agreed to put their differences aside in an effort to confront their common enemy, the US occupation. For a while the two groups pulled their heads in while they reconfigured their approach to the problem.
It seems now that they are ready to take on the US and the Iraqi puppet government. With the support of Iran, who are backing and supplying the insurgent Shiite forces opposed to the US occupation and the Quisling-style Iraqi government, Shiite fighters have launched attacks against the Iraqi Army and US and allied forces in Basra and Baghdad.
Contrary to the obfuscating nonsense that some right-wing propagandists are saying, Iran has not given the go-ahead to the Iraqi puppet government led by Nouri al-Maliki to attack al Sadr and his Mahdi Army but, rather, is actually supporting the coalition between Moktada al Sadr and Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim and their fight against the US occupation.
The situation is rapidly beginning to resemble a Vietnam-style civil war where, one might recall, a US-backed puppet government tried to fight off a concerted insurgency using a US-trained Vietnamese army – and lost. Like Vietnam, where the insurgents were supported by North Vietnam, the Shiite insurgents in Iraq are being supported by their Iranian Shiite comrades. The only difference here, however, is that it is unlikely that Iranian regular troops will be directly helping out Iraqi insurgents on the battlefield; that would be exactly the kind of excuse the US are looking for to attack Iran.
Iraqi puppet government leader, al Maliki, at first promised to crush the militia insurgents once and for all but has since found that this is easier said than done, even with air support from the US and Britain, and that this is unlikely to happen and so instead is now offering cash to insurgents that hand in their weapons. Insurgents, however, have dug in rather than give in and are now regrouping after having beaten back the initial US-backed Iraqi forces attacks against them.
While the situation provides an excuse for the US to remain in Iraq, the US is unlikely to find the insurgents easy to beat. They are well armed and well trained, and have been around longer than US-backed Iraqi army. Sending in US troops to deal with the insurgency will be an embarrassment for the Iraqi puppet government and a slap in Bush’s face after he told the world that everything is under control in Iraq and that the Iraqis are able to look after themselves.
Apparently not but some interesting days ahead.
AUSTRALIANS AT WAR
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11 comments:
I wonder what the Arabic word for "TET" is???
Damien
Excellent expose on the war. You may be an engineer but have a remarkable way with words!
Keep it up.
Not reading your other posts yet I have to boldly wonder if the intention
of moving into Iraq/Afghan etc. and holding it is not a cover for a more clandestine event that is withholden from us mere mortals, both pro and against, republican and democrat, religious or atheist leading to a dark managerie of possibilities that would even make Stephen King blush.
aj
Virginia US
Obviously this is twaddle personally dictated by Osama bin Laden. Why does no one report on the good things that are happening in Iraq, like the smiling Iraqis who come out to shake the Americans hands because they are grateful for freedom and for the excellent sewage system in Baghdad? Clearly Iran is behind this, as you say, and we should blow them off the map with nuclear weapons without delay so that Israel and the world will be safe from these madmen.
This is the best news I've heard this last week. If Iran is involved, then it will be quite reasonably on the basis of driving the army of a rogue state away from its borders and region. Bet the Israelis are getting nervous right now.
You should seriously think twice before blogging about Iraq again. It is a basic fact that al-Hakim is currently fighting and has always been fighting against Sadr with Maliki and the Americans. The Iranians also very clearly support this because they can't accept any arab nationalist shiite in Iraq like Sadr.
Emotion, I wonder who you think is arming al Sadr’s Mahdi Army. I wonder if you are aware, indeed, that Moktada al Sadr currently lives in Tehran and is studying at the Qom seminary in Iran. I wonder if you are aware of the truce between the two Shiite leaders that was struck in October 2007.
Perhaps if you pulled your head out of the propaganda press and took a look at the geopolitical reality of what is going on in the Middle East you may feel more inclined to make rational statements yourself instead of simply making a fool of yourself.
Winning is losing and losing winning. The longer we have to stay in Iraq--to protect the fragile government--government printing presses churn out war spending to keep the economy afloat.
Peace is war and war peace. By rejecting any soft power means to resolve conflicts, hard/power militarism is the only available method. By perpetuating war against Muslims on Israel's behalf, we sustain the regimes in the region through military aid, our advantage over the Chinese. We will need to talk to Iran to end this and the ruling elite don't want it to end.
The only way out is to withdraw all our forces, perhaps retaining a right to intervene. Even then, our departure will be seen as weakness. This war is bankrupting us and tearing at the ethical fabric of our national being, through atrocities in Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, and Iraq.
I couldn`t agree with Damian Laatan more. Emotion is writing gobbeldygook.
One can only hope that the Shi`i forces of As Sadr and the various Sunni counterinsurgency groups come together as one and drive the "coalition of the willing" terrorists out of their country. The middle east, and planet earth, will be a much better place as a result.
and that dog faced old jackass, McCainus still has trouble with the difference b/w Shite and Sunni. Just like his but buddy bush. While they get their culture of the middle east lesson American bleeds blood and dollars.
Nice sarcasm, Mr. Gawthrop!
Anonomous said..."While they get their culture of the middle east lesson American bleeds blood and dollars."
Don't worry, Bernanke will be printing plenty more dollars. Blood? Plenty more where that came from too. Mind you, it won't be neo-con blood or Bush family blood, but believe me, there's plenty of the other type left. Don't worry!
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