You know that wave of violence and fighting which has broken out between Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army on the one side, and the Iraqi government forces led by Prime Minister Maliki augmented by support from the US military and the Badr Brigade (the Shi’ite militia that backs Maliki), Muqtada al-Sadr’s political and military rivals, on the other side? It’s really great news for Iraq and its government. It means the surge has been a success. Just ask President George W. Bush if you have any doubts, because he certainly has none.
President Bush gave warning yesterday that Iraq’s “fragile situation” required the US to maintain a strong military presence there, even as he defended the withdrawal of British troops from Basra, the scene of heavy fighting in recent days.
In an interview with The Times, he backed the Iraqi Government’s decision to “respond forcefully” to the spiralling violence by “criminal elements” and Shia extremists in Basra. “It was a very positive moment in the development of a sovereign nation that is willing to take on elements that believe they are beyond the law,” the President said.
Asked if British troops had retreated to the relative safety of the Basra airbase too hastily last year, Mr Bush said that the pullback had been “based upon success” in quelling violence, adding that he remained grateful for the contribution made by British Forces from “day one” of the war.
Which means, of course, that we will have to stay in Iraq indefinitely. Because it really doesn’t matter if violence is up or violence is down in Iraq. Either way it’s always good news for the Bush administration and the supporters of its plan to “stay the course,” no matter how long that course might last. As Saint McCain says, a 100 year occupation of a country that was not involved in the 9/11 attacks is just fine with him.
Oh, and more good news. The violence is all the fault of Iran. No one else has any blame for it whatsoever.
(cont.)
Petraeus reacted immediately to Sunday’s rocket attacks on the Green Zone by blaming them on Iran. He told the BBC the rockets were “Iranian provided, Iranian-made rockets”, and that they were launched by groups that were funded and trained by the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Petraeus said this was “in complete violation of promises made by President [Mahmud] Ahmadinejad and other most senior Iranian leaders to their Iraqi counterparts”.
The fact that General Petraeus and Maliki have been attempting to decapitate the Sadr movement, Maliki’s principal political and military rival among the Iraqi Shi’ites, for over a year has absolutely nothing to do with what’s going on right now. Well, almost nothing:
For months, the command tried to generate a “dialogue” with “moderates” in the Sadrist camp. It issued a series of statements hailing Muqtada’s willingness to change the purpose of his movement. Most recently, on January 17, Odierno said, “I believe he is trying to move forward with more of a religious organization and get away from a militia type-supported organization.” But he admitted, “That could change.”
Meanwhile, Petraeus targeted selected elements of the Mahdi Army in raids in Sadr City and the Shi’ite south, portraying its targets as “criminals” and “rogue elements” which had broken away from Muqtada and were armed, trained and financed by Iran. Odierno suggested in his January 17 press briefing that such renegade groups were causing “the majority of the violence”.
But the “moderate” Sadrists who would be willing to make a deal with the US never materialized. Last July, a US commander in Baghdad claimed that Sadrist representatives had initiated “indirect” talks with the US military. But in January, Odierno would say only that they had been meeting with “local leaders” in Sadr City, not with representatives of the Sadrist movement.
The Mahdi Army’s blunt warnings of military countermeasures followed months of raids against Muqtada’s political-military organization by both US forces and the Badr Organization. According to a senior Sadrist parliamentarian, between 2,000 and 2,500 Mahdi Army militiamen had been detained since Muqtada declared a ceasefire last August.
The raids have been aimed at weakening the Madhi Army’s political hold on Shi’ite cities in anticipation of eventual provincial elections. […]
For months Muqtada had refrained from authorizing a full-fledged response to such attacks on his forces. But on Tuesday an officer at Muqtada’s headquarters in Najaf said the Mahdi Army should be prepared to “strike the occupiers” as well as the Badr Organization.
Revealing the contradictions built into the US position in Iraq, even as it was blaming Iran for the alleged renegade units of the Mahdi Army, the US was using the Badr Organization, the military arm of the ISCI, to carry out raids against the Mahdi Army. The Badr Organization and the ISCI had always been and remained the most pro-Iranian political-military forces in Iraq, having been established, trained and funded by the IRGC from Shi’ite exiles in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war.
But who cares about such frivolous details. No need to examine the finer points of Bush’s War. It’s always getting better and better, no matter what’s happening “over there” “on the ground” (to use the vernacular). So go back to watching American Idol, my fellow Americans. President Bush and his helpful sidekick Dick “Bomb Iran” Cheney, have everything under control.
By the way, you do know what you get when you take the “US” out of Bush, don’t you? Yeah, I knew you did.