Hysteria on Al-Sadr

There has been a lot of blather in the MSM about Al-Sadr's latest threat to declare "open war" on Coalition forces and end for good the truce declared last August. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, here are two observations: (1) The "truce" was unilateral and we never agreed to stop operations against anyone with hostile intent against us, including the criminal elements of Jaish Al Mahdi and JAM Special Groups. (2) Al-Sadr went on the defensive last summer for the usual reasons: to consolidate and reorganize, and, if necessary, set the conditions for future offensive operations. The Sadrist movement fractured into several competing elements which are fighting each other as much as rival Shia militias, Coalition forces, and the Sunnis.

Posted by: LMC at 01:32 PM

Comments

1 Al-Sadr needs to be quashed like a bug (easier said than done). But the Iraqi State will not long endure with competing authorities (the elected government or the self appointed Al-Sadr). Sooner or later, there will have to be a reckoning as to who has the biggest stones.

This is not the time to go wobbly.

Posted by: kmr at April 20, 2008 03:14 PM (pzJbm)

2 Given the chatter I've been hearing from the milblogs and the right side of the blogosphere in general, Al Sadr is sounding more and more like the Black Knight from Python's Holy Grail all the time.

Posted by: Boy Named Sous at April 20, 2008 05:37 PM (jiBuF)

3 There is nothing wrong with Al-Sadr that a bullet in his head wouldn't cure... And I have thought that for many years, ever since the battle of Najaf when the U.S. political class basically blinked because he was holed up in a, OMG Mosque! Funny how there were dead bodies like crazy strewn all over the outer areas of the mosque compound... Big mistake, and we and the people of Iraq are still paying for it.

Posted by: Babs at April 20, 2008 05:54 PM (iZZlp)

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