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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BAGHDAD (AP) - A U.S. helicopter fired a Hellfire missile during fighting in a Shiite militia stronghold of Baghdad Friday, killing at least four people as deadly clashes broke out in Iraq’s oil-rich south for the fourth day.

American jets also dropped bombs overnight in Basra in the first use of U.S. air power in the southern oil port since the Iraqi government launched a crackdown against Shiite militias there earlier this week.

Defying a curfew in Baghdad, extremists also lobbed more rockets or mortars against the U.S.-protected Green Zone.

At least two rounds struck the nearby offices of Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, killing two guards and wounding four, his daughter Lubna said.

If it’s war al-Sadr and his bunch of Little Shiiteheads want, then let it be war they get, let’s see if The Bush and his puppet al-Maliki have the balls to do it right this time, because removing al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army from the face of this earth shouldn’t be that much of an effort if we seriously get with the program and do this thing as it should be done and must be done.

Ground forces called for the airstrike in Sadr City after coming under small-arms fire while clearing a main supply route at 4:10 a.m., U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said.

And THAT is exactly what we should have been doing all along, when you’re the mightiest military nation on earth you use what is available and you use it to win, to hell with PCness and standoffs, KILL the enemy and save OUR troops.

He ( Lt. Col. Steve Stover) said four gunmen were killed, but Iraqi police and hospital officials said five civilians died and four others were wounded in the attack.

And by the time al-Jazeera and the assorted Muslim moonbats of the world gets done with telling this story their way, we will have bombed 3 mosques, an old folks retirement village and 2 children’s hospitals, killing a multitude of innocent Iraqi civilians.

The strikes came as tensions rose among followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr angry over a crackdown that has threatened to unravel a militia cease-fire and spark a new cycle of violence after months of relative calm in Iraq.

Here’s a simple and easy to understand solution, KILL al-Sadr and as many of his followers as you possibly can, that tends to send a message, it says, ‘we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore’.

And it also serves another purpose, it tells ALL the radical Muslims, of all nationalities and all branches of Islam, we’re serious in our War on Terror and if you mess with us again, scores of your people WILL DIE, and that my friends, is the only message, the only action and the only logic that these people understand.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has insisted the fight is targeting criminal gangs in Basra, not al-Sadr’s movement, and he has promised “no retreat.”

It’s statements like this that tend to make me wonder, isn’t al-Sadr’s bunch the “criminal gangs” that are causing all this brouhaha?? I guess al-Maliki is taking his queue from The Bush and going for PCness by using political doublespeak.

Personally, I don’t think al-Maliki has the BALLS to do this thing, I don’t believe he will go to war against his Shiitehead brothers, and al-Sadr IS his religious brother, and I also wonder how long before The Bush reins in our troops as well, it’s just not PC to go around killing your enemies, you might make them angry, and we all know, it’s just not right for us to have enemies that hate us.

What I wouldn’t give to see a real military type leader in the White House, and a entire Corps in the field comprised of nothing but Gen. George S. Patton clones, this Debacle in Iraq would be over in a week or so.

Many folks complain that we must find a way out of Iraq, I am one of them, but I don’t just cry about it, I offer viable solutions to the problem, and the most viable solution that I can present is this, KILL the insurgents, wipe them out and leave their carcasses in the street as a reminder to any that follow, WIN this thing and do it in such a massive and brutal fashion that other radical nations will take pause before they disturb our nation again, and even though I don’t believe that Iraq and Saddam were involved in the attacks of 9-11, we ARE in Iraq, be that action right or wrong, it makes no difference, we’re there, now get it over with and stop playing games.

Full Story Here:
US Airstrike Kills at Least 4 in Baghdad

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Behind the Pentagon’s closed doors, U.S. military leaders told President Bush Wednesday they are worried about the Iraq war’s mounting strain on troops and their families. But they indicated they’d go along with a brief halt in pulling out troops this summer.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff did say senior commanders in Iraq should make more frequent assessments of security conditions, an idea that appeared aimed at increasing pressure for more rapid troop reductions.

The chiefs’ concern is that U.S. forces are being worn thin, compromising the Pentagon’s ability to handle crises elsewhere in the world.

In the war zone itself, two more American soldiers were killed Wednesday in separate attacks in Baghdad, raising the U.S. death toll to at least 4,003, according to an Associated Press count. Volleys of rockets also slammed into Baghdad’s Green Zone for the third day this week, and the U.S. Embassy said three Americans were seriously wounded. At least eight Iraqis were killed elsewhere in the capital by rounds that apparently fell short.

If past performance is any indicator, the Bush Bot sites will be posting how this story is likely nothing more than another lie designed to denigrate their god, The Bush, and his magnificent warfighting skills.

And those couldn’t have been real rockets hitting the Green Zone, it must have been explosive charges planted by the MSM because the news that’s been coming out of Iraq is just too good, and we all know that the MSM plants stories like this to demoralize the troops and to keep the Bush Bots screaming LIAR and TRAITOR as loud as they can when folks like me post these stories, not to mention, the reports of continues death and destruction show the public what is really going on in Iraq.

The Joint Chiefs are particularly concerned about Afghanistan and an increasingly active Taliban insurgency.

The United States has about 31,000 troops in Afghanistan and 156,000 in Iraq.

And IF we had a president that could actually put at least 2 cognizant thoughts together and not get tongue tied in the process, or commit some other obvious gaff, we might have actually stayed engaged IN Afghanistan and completed that job instead of traipsing off to Iraq on GW’s Big Adventure.

One of the leading advocates of Bush’s troop buildup last year, military historian Frederick Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute, said in an interview Wednesday that security conditions in Iraq, while better, are not good enough to justify any commitment to troop reductions beyond July.

“The military reality is that it’s virtually inconceivable that it will make sense to draw down below 15 brigades this year,” Kagan said.

Wait, what?? According to the Bush Bots that claim to be in the loop and have access to all sorts of glowing reports, and in some cases have made vague reference to being privy to classified information, everything is just rosy in Iraq and the world is a lovely place, everyone is ready for a group hug and a round of Kumbaya, so you just have to know that this can’t be an accurate story, the Bots have told us otherwise, our troops are being kept in Iraq to train the Iraqis and that’s all, the Surge was a glowing success and everything is just lovely, right??

Mullen and Gates have said repeatedly that in addition to reducing troop levels in Iraq, they want to shorten tour lengths for soldiers from 15 months to 12 months as soon as possible. A decision to do that is expected, perhaps shortly after Bush reaffirms that the number brigades in Iraq will be cut to 15 by July. The Army calculates that at that point it could drop tours to 12 months and still give units at least 12 months at home to recover, retrain and rearm before deploying again.

Former Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said it best, “You don’t go to war with the army you want, you go to war with the army you have” but what do you say about going to war when you don’t have to, and in the ensuing process, wearing your army down to a point where inefficiency is the order of the day and funding for that war is bleeding your citizens dry??

I also have to wonder, will the same people that blasted ME for saying things were NOT as advertised in Iraq do the same to Kagan for speaking the truth?? Will there be a cry that these people are traitors?? Are the DoD guys fake military officers?? Are the stories coming from the Pentagon coming from professional writers that are being paid by the word and only write in an effort to disrespect America??

Some people are so blinded by their desire to support The Bush that they just can’t look at any opposing opinion, they can’t stand it when their fantasy lover is shown as the lackluster, and less than desirable leader that he really is as we continue to be consumed by his Debacle in Iraq.

None of our leaders can agree on the best way to handle the Debacle in Iraq either, an all around consensus is needed but I seriously doubt that one will be reached, there are too many opinions and egos in play, and the most powerful, and possibly the most destructive ego is that of the president himself.

Ask yourself these questions and post your ideas and opinions in the comments section and tell me how, in your opinion, do we end the Debacle in Iraq, and do so with a victory for us and the Iraqi people, and end it while maintaining at least some honor. Do we send in more troops and just blast the hell out of anything that even remotely looks like an insurgent? Do we withdraw and leave Iraq on it’s own? Do we maintain a long term presence and carry on as we have, waiting, hoping and praying that the Iraqis will find the guts to stand on their own and stave off the insurgent hordes of radical Islam?

I have an idea that we’re going to be in Iraq for many years to come and we’ll spend countless more BILLIONS, perhaps even into the TRILLIONS of U.S. tax dollars on this ill-advised undertaking and we will likely lose many more fine young troops in this audacious adventure.

Full Story Here:
Military Tells Bush of Troop Strains

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Authors Note: Bold and Italics in the original story were made by me to highlight certain words and/or phrases.