BAGHDAD (AP) - Anti-American Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers Saturday to defy government orders to surrender their weapons, as U.S. jets struck Shiite extremists near Basra to bolster a faltering Iraqi offensive against gunmen in the city.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash that his offensive, which began Tuesday, provoked in areas of Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power.

So, al-Maliki thinks he may have miscalculated the strong backlash by the insurgents? I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but, I told you so, the Iraqis have NO idea of what to do or how to do it, even after over 5 years of American and British leadership and training, if the Americans and the Brits don’t win this battle against the Mahdi Army, the Iraqi forces will get their asses handed to them on a platter.

And that’s the way this Debacle in Iraq will continue to go for as long as ANY kind of insurgency can be maintained, we’ll do the biggest part of the fighting and dying and the Iraqis will keep on doing what Iraqis do best, just enough to get by.

Despite the mounting crisis, al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, vowed to remain in Basra until government forces wrest control from militias, including al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. He called the fight for control of Basra “a decisive and final battle.”

British ground troops, who controlled the city until handing it over to the Iraqis last December, also joined the battle for Basra, firing artillery Saturday for the first time in support of Iraqi forces.

2 days ago I made a blog post that asked, “Would that push be led, in force, by the Iraqis, of is this another U.S. mission that will bear a striking resemblance to missions in Vietnam, missions where U.S. troops fought and died to take positions and then turned them over to ARVN troops only to see them give it back to the NVA/VC and then U.S. troops have to go back, fight and die once again, all to re-take that very same useless position, and do it over and over, all within a very short period of time?”, al-Maliki and al-Sadr both rattle their sabres and I am even more convinced that this is exactly the scenario we will be seeing as the Debacle in Iraq heats up once again, and as of right now it’s the Brits that are having to save the Iraqis in Basra, after they, the Brits, had secured Basra and then turned it over to the Iraqis, and the Iraqis failed to hold a secure position.

I don’t know about my younger readers, but to me, and many of the older readers, those of us that can and do remember Vietnam, in vivid, full color memories, what we are seeing right now is exactly the same drive and determination to win from the Iraqi Army as we saw from the ARVN troops during that war, we’d take it, hand it over to the ARVN’s and they would promptly hand it right back to the NVA and/or VC, and in the process, surrendering weapons and munitions to those that would turn them on American troops.

Oh, but the Bush Bots say that just can’t be happening in Iraq, Bush and the American military are loved by all in Iraq, and to the Bots I say, loud and clear, BULL SHIT! The Iraqis are Muslims, they are loyal to their religion, their sects, and even that has warring factions, the Iraqis, for the most part, don’t give a damn for us or what Bush claims to be doing for their benefit.

The growing turmoil threatens to undermine White House efforts to convince a skeptical Congress and the American public that the Iraqis are making progress toward managing their own security without the presence of U.S. troops.With the Shiite militiamen defiant, a group of police in the Mahdi Army’s Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City abandoned their posts and handed over their weapons to al-Sadr’s local office. Police forces in Baghdad are believed to be heavily influenced or infiltrated by Mahdi militiamen.

“We can’t fight our brothers in the Mahdi Army, so we came here to submit our weapons,” one policeman said on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

He said about 40 policemen had defected to the Mahdi Army. The figure could not be confirmed, but AP Television News footage showed about a dozen uniformed police, their faces covered with masks to shield their identity, being met by Sheik Salman al-Feraiji, al-Sadr’s chief representative in Sadr City.

When I began writing this commentary I started it off by saying “I hate to say I told you so“, but you know, I really DON’T, because I, and a few other Conservative bloggers have been trying to tell folks that this was how it was going to be, we’ve been trying to get it across to the Bush Bots for a long time, and all we got for our efforts was the label ‘TRAITOR‘ and Bush Hater, but ya know, I just can’t argue with the Bush Hater thing, at least that part IS true.

Here’s the bottom line folks, if U.S. and British forces don’t pursue this offensive through to a definitive solution, it will not happen, the Iraqis are basically a useless lot when it comes to warfighting and in my not so humble opinion, the entire nation of Iraq is not worth the death or wounding of so much as one more U.S. soldier, sailor or airman.

WHY should we have to defend these gutless backstabbers that can’t wait to get an American in their sights?? If the Iraqis can’t stand on their own, after several years of intense training, an unlimited supply of weapons, munitions and logistics, not to mention some fantastic support from American and British forces, if it can’t happen NOW, if they can’t defeat a rag-tag bunch like the Mahdi army, I have to ask, WHEN??

When will the Iraqis be capable of standing and fighting in defense of their nation? And do so without us being forced into doing the fighting for them as they continue to give up, turn weapons over TO the Mahdi army and slam the door in OUR face?

Is that a people we should be dying for?

Full and Complete Story Here:
Shiite Leader Al-Sadr Defies Iraq Gov’t

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