The Good Guys Are Still Winning in Iraq
It looks like maybe Mookie’s had enough in Iraq as the Iraqi Army has been beating him pretty much everywhere they fight. He’s calling for a cease-fire and making some demands. The Iraqi government doesn’t seem willing to accept his demands quite yet and are continuing the fight with reinforcements in Basra.
The Iraqi army has not performed perfectly and we’ve seen reports that it was infested, expecially in the south, with Mahdi Army members. Contrary to media reports over the weekend, Sadr has not acted like a victor and Maliki has not acted like a loser. Indeed, it has been just the opposite. Sadr has done the blustering of a man who is rapidly losing good options and Maliki has been gaining the confidence of a legitimate and stable elected official.
I’m not at all convinced that Maliki is the right man for the job right now and we need to keep a very close eye on him. His ties to militias and the sectarian nonsense of the past are far from broken and he is as likely to use this conflict to his own personal advantage as he is to leverage it to get Iran off of his country’s back. Still, he’s not done badly against Sadr thus far and he’s learned a couple valuable things about hwo bad sectarianism is to the eventual security of his country. I’m inclined toward some sympathy here. He’s charting a course no Iraqi leader has ever charted before and is facing entirely unique challenges. I think maybe we here, especially those on the left who are eager for him to fail so they can excoriate George Bush, could cut him just a little bit of slack.
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Category: Fighting the Islamists
Jimmie, you obviously have better access to hallucinogens than I do. Can I get some?
The fact that Maliki's people have to crawl to Qod to beg for a resolution says a lot about who's really in control in Iraq. Sadr is busy studying for his Ayatollahship and can still manage to bring Maliki to his knees. And the US can do nothing to stop this groveling. We screwed up big time by not bringing Sadr to our side. And now this anti-Iranian cleric is cooperating with Iran. When he becomes an Ayatollah, we will have no chance of subjugating the Iraqi population (as we obviously wish to do). Sadr won this battle, but he knows the real battle will only begin when he's an Ayatollah. And then, both the US and Iran will have much to fear. Our hapless clinging to the pro-Iran Maliki and his ISCI allies has only made the situation much worse. It's very hard to see a situation where Iran does not ultimately win. But what do expect from a president who didn't even know there were multiple factions within Islam? Bush screwed this up big time. Unfortunately, the rest of us have to pay for it (well, not me, but you guys). The only positive thing Bush can say is that Iran will eventually be as disappointed as we are. But Bush will still be rich and oblivious to the damage he created. Happy as a clam, they say.
In fact, he will be profiting from this with his oil investments. Thankfully, so will I. I don't drive anymore and have extensive oil investments. But you drivers will get screwed (and give more of your money to terrorists). I'd like to say I'm sorry about that, but I'm too caught up in the schadenfreude now. And I'm more than happy that I'm getting richer by the minute by Bush's desire to enrich the oil companies even if it means giving his power away to Iran. I bought oil stocks when Bush was elected because I knew this would happen. Sorry about the rest of you (not).