.
Oh Irony! Former Saddam loyalists in Anbar province are now our allies to fight the Al Qaeda led insurgency in the province. Another illustration Saddam and Al Qaeda weren’t congruous. These fighters are not Iraqi regular troops, but militants with US weapons and money with allegiance to local tribe leaders. The suspected The Sunni factions in Iraq are already supported with weapons and funds from their religious ally Saudi Arabia.
The political stalemate will continue because of the allegiance in the three regions of Kurds, Sunni and Shia seeking oil share and power. Senator Cantwell (D-Wa) just said the same in her statement on the Senate floor. “We are sending the wrong signal. Staying in Iraq in permanent bases. We are there to privatize Iraqi oil.” She also reminded the Senators of the Wolfowitz statements, Iraq oil revenues would fund the war effort in the first 2-3 years.
BAGHDAD (AFP) – The parliamentary bloc loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ended its boycott of the Iraqi legislature on Tuesday after quitting the assembly in June in protest at the bombing of a revered shrine.
“The Sadr party hereby announces that its suspension of membership (in parliament) has ended today,” the leader of the bloc, Nassar al-Rubaie, told AFP.
The movement’s 32 MPs walked out of parliament more than a month ago after a second bomb attack on a Shiite shrine in central Iraq, which Sadr blamed in part on the failure of Iraqi security forces to protect it.
… it is unclear how much bearing the move will have on crucial legislation such as the controversial oil law aimed at resolving the country’s myriad religious and ethnic conflicts.
The Sadr bloc has condemned the draft oil law aimed at equitably distributing the country’s oil revenues because it includes a clause that would allow foreign countries to drill under production-sharing agreements.
The government has met Sadr’s demands by agreeing to investigate both blasts, to secure the road to Samarra and to rebuild the site with “manpower from Islamic states,” Hassan al-Sinaid, an MP from Maliki’s Dawa party, said.
“The committee also must set up a timetable for reconstructing the shrines of Ghailani and Kholani in Baghdad and Talha Bin Abdullah in Basra,” Sinaid said, referring to three other bombed mosques.
After the June 13 attack on the Samarra shrine, the Baghdad government announced that the mausoleum would be rebuilt with the help of UNESCO.
But the mostly Sunni city of Samarra (Anbar province) is among the most dangerous in Iraq, and the 125-kilometre (78-mile) highway linking it to Baghdad is littered with unexploded roadside bombs, security officials say.
Sen. John Kerry takes the floor and repeats the words of congratulations to Senator Barrasso and his representation of his constituents.
Kerry focuses on the substantial threat of Al Qaeda and has not diminished since 911. The chatter heard today is the same level heard by George Tenet and conveyed to the administration in July of 2001. Yet we know President Bush left for Crawford, Tx for the longest vacation of a presidential leader.
Our presence in Iraq fosters sectarian strife between Sunni and Shia. The dynamics hasn’t changed, everyday we’re putting our troops at risks to IED’s. We know the benchmarks won’t be met by a report in September.
The fundamentals of our surge strategy is flawed, we put in more troops while we know the politics won’t change due to the weakness of PM al-Maliki and a split parliament. The Iraqi politicians know they have an open-ended backing of President Bush because of his stubbornness he’ll stay the course.
We have empowered Iran, they love what we’re doing in Iraq.
My take on the underlying US tactics in Iraq is to foster civil strife, change allies with roque militias and listen to what their client states advocate, especially Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, Israel and the four oil powers Exxon, Total, BP and Shell. So what else is new? Slaves of oil consumption: 1920’s Iraq – 1950’s Iran – 1970’s Gulf States, with no minor role for the Western powers in the Middle East, Great Britain, France and after WWII the United States.
RECENT ANALYSIS – published @ BooMan Tribune
by Larry Johnson
July 17 – The ethnic cleansing of Baghdad is well advanced and the United States does not have the military force in place to alter the course of these events without engaging in a full scale war against the militias of Moqtada al Sadr and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. By the end of September the various Shia militias will control close to 90% of the city.
So what? For starters it is no coincidence that the Green Zone has sustained multiple mortar bombardments in the last couple of weeks. The bombardment comes in the wake of stepped up U.S. military assaults against Shia targets in eastern Baghdad. The simple fact that the mortars can be fired seemingly at will into the Green Zone without effective counter battery highlights the limited operational capability of the U.S. forces that have “surged” into Baghdad.
SECURITY BULLETIN (PDF)
The security situation in Baghdad, within the so-called “highly secure” Green Zone has deteriorated to the point that U.S. personnel venturing outside must wear body armor and helmets. Check out the story broken by McClatchey and the memo itself.
The Shia success certainly screws up the White House propaganda plan to portray the enemy in Iraq as Al Qaeda on the march. Joshua Partlow makes this point in today’s Washington Post:
by BooMan
July 13 – Remember back in January when Iraqis made a brazen attack on a U.S. base in Karbala and they killed and kidnapped U.S. soldiers? Remember how the military blamed it on Iranian agents and financiers? Well… forget it.
USA Today obtained a copy of the Army’s February 27 report. The report found that the Karbala policemen exploited “a level of trust” that U.S. commanders placed with them to provide security for a provincial headquarters where a contingent of soldiers were stationed. In the assault, one of the most sophisticated on U.S. troops to date, gunmen passed themselves off as part of a U.S. security team and entered the compound past police checkpoints, eventually killing five soldiers.
● Holy City of Karbala ◊ by Juan Cole
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
