Comments on: Al-Sadr Pulls Fighters Off Iraq Streets

By: jude

jude — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:24:08 +0000

TexasFred, you are so right about it.

By: TexasFred

TexasFred — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:07:57 +0000

Jude, you know it, I know it and anyone with a brain knows it, but you’ll NEVER get the Bush Bots to admit it, and they’ll call YOU a traitor to the ’cause’ for saying it… They think Bush, and his policies are sheer genius, but remember this:

By: jude

jude — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:33:04 +0000

I doubt very much it was U.S. air power that got Muqtada al Sadrâ€™s men off the streets of the Basra. First of all, theyâ€™re not off the streets at all. al-Sadrsâ€™ minions still man roadblocks and checkpoints and they still control whole neighborhoods of Basra.

The Iraqi Army has been infiltrated by not only al Sadrâ€™s men, but men from Sunni militias. The Pentagon has even acknowledged this. Every analyst who looked at the Battle for Basra has concluded the Iraqi government did not win. Because Muqtada al Sadrâ€™s militia is still intact and continues to impose their own tax, levies and cultural sway.

In fact, several wire stories pointed out that rather than U.S. airpower, it was the influence of clerics from Tehran that persuaded al Sadr to pull his fighters from the battle. And if that is true, than Bush & Co. have not only badly miscalculated by putting the Shiâ€™ites in power in Iraq, theyâ€™ve laid the foundations for a dual Islamic Iran-Iraq state.

By: richardt

richardt — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:46:11 +0000

I liked the ending comment about the armed citizens of the USA and was reminded of another responding post to this blog some time ago relating a story about how Vietnam responds to possible Muslim terrorists: the Communist government said they would “detain or slaughter the entire Muslim population in the country”, hence no attacks.

Looking back into recent history with a view of current events in Iraq, Saddam Hussein (despite being a terrible killer himself) doesn’t look so bad. One can tell he wouldn’t have tolerated terrorism either as it would have been a threat to his power.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:48:29 +0000

I have a more pessimistic take on this. Look who demonstrated what in the last few days:

1. Al-Sadr proved he can start violence when he wants to, and he can stop the violence when he wants to.

2. Al-Maliki proved that he practically powerless to stop what al-Sadr starts.

So if anyone wins this battle, it’s al-Sadr, in my view. He will start up the fighting again, at a time and place of his own choosing, and there’s not much anyone can do about it.