Once again with that bullshit. The irony is that in THIS case, it doesn't even apply to the guy you were directly answering!
Depends. What do you think the topic is? The topic I am discussing is "garamet is full of shit once again with with insane talk of group minds and conspiracies". I'd ask you to be a little more original, but then, I've read your books so I know what a tall order that it.
Hopefully he manages to pull this out. If he does, Maliki might just be a guy we can work with afterall.
If he manages to crush the various factions in Basra, he starts to look like a strongman that can get things done. Perceptions are very important over there.
Well, looks like it's on - al Sadr has come out and said that he's in control of the militias and their goal now is to oust the United States from the country, and that the current government is further away from the people than Saddam's government was. al Maliki obviously believes he has the upper hand at this point. We'll see.
Well, that was quick. The day before he was on Al Jazeera saying he was going to drive out the foreign invaders. Hopefully this will settle things down and show that the government has some stability.
Yep, curfew in Baghdad lifted, no Mehdi militia members to be seen: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7321921.stm
As always. Like many on the left she's politically entrenched in 'the war must fail' because she's said for so long it will. This actually was a really strong showing by al-Maliki's government. al-Sadr is being marginalized more and more, and that's good for the entire country. Both the country of Iraq and US interests need the democratically elected government to hold the power, not the militias. I'm not sure how that could be spun any way else.
Interesting though - the AP link that I read about al Sadr claiming he'd throw out the foreign invaders on Al Jazeera now goes to an article saying he's taking his toys and going home. But it was linked through FARK, and the comments there indicate that yes, the very same web address originally stated that he was going to forment war in the streets. Perhaps he was just grandstanding for some political point? I'll be curious to say in later days if there was any political wheeling and dealing about this, or if he just had to make some noise before he capitulated in order to save face.
Heh. I wouldn't have disbanded his military either. Make them work for us....instead of trying to train a bunch of incompetent fools....and 5 years later and 4,000 American caskets....we're finally starting to see real results. Hey, but thats just me. Worked in WW2 though.
Can someone please link to where I said "the war must fail"? Now that the goal has shifted from "finding the WMD" to "giving the Iraqis freedom" to "securing the Middle East" to "kill every Iraqi who gets in our way," you guys are clearly demonstrating that you're on the road to success.
1) The Iraqi Surge was actually 3x larger than the American Surge. As of late Feb (when I read the article) over 100K members have been added to the security forces since last spring. The inclusion of the Sons of Iraq have sped up this process. Maliki may not have had a good plan, but sometimes all you can do is just throw a fuckload of troops at the situation, which is what he did. Helps when you have U.S. FA, Air Assets, C2, and Logistics too. 2) Word is that the Iranians also realized this was a make it or break it moment for the Maliki government and basically told Sadr stand down or go alone from now own. They may be crazy, but they aren't stupid. Better a friendly neighbor than total chaos on your doorstep.
