Politics > Politics-USA > say Whack-a-Mole McCain - al-Sadrs Militia is Back (but maybe without nationalist anti-Iranian al-Sadr)
| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"can_o_worms" |
| Date: |
04 Apr 2007 08:51:02 PM |
| Object: |
say Whack-a-Mole McCain - al-Sadrs Militia is Back (but maybe without nationalist anti-Iranian al-Sadr) |
Sadr militia returns
This article linked from: antiwar.com
(as are many posts seen in this NG)
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/20797
By MARTIN SCHRAM April 03, 2007
They're back.
The Mahdi Army, the militia once solely controlled
by the devoutly anti-America Shiite cleric Moktada
al-Sadr, has reportedly oozed back into the Sadr
City section of Baghdad that is a prime target of
the new U.S. strategy the Bush administration calls
a surge.
What that means is that _ despite the way-too-early
pronouncements of success by President Bush's top
spinners (not to mention Sunday's desperation
overreach by Joyless John McCain, which we'll
discuss later) _ we may soon get our first real
look at whether Bush's surge is working.
For seven weeks, U.S. troops had cautiously crept
(never surged) into Sadr City with a goal of ridding
that low-income Shia neighborhood of a militia that
has waged death and disruption in what is now clearly
an Iraqi civil war. U.S. forces suffered few
casualties. Indeed, they engaged in few clashes of
urban combat.
Bush officials cited the low casualty levels as
evidence that the controversial surge _ a buildup
that will now total more than 30,000 new U.S.
troops _ seemed to be working.
But we know to beware of government statistics.
Robert McNamara taught us (the hard way) that
governments can use statistics in wartime to create
a paint-by-the-numbers rosy picture that bears no
resemblance to war-zone reality. And that's what
just happened in Iraq's Sadr City. It is now clear
that when the U.S. troops entered that sector, the
Shia militia just disappeared among the civilian
population in the initial days of the U.S. surge.
Only a week ago did the new ominous reality surface.
And even then, it surfaced in a way that most
Americans may not yet know it. "Militiamen return to
Sadr City," said the Page One headline in The
Washington Times, one of the few newspapers that
played the story where it belonged. The lead by
correspondent Sharon Behn reported:
"Shi'ite militiamen, who melted away from Baghdad
when U.S. and Iraqi troops began their security
crackdown seven weeks ago, are rolling back into the
city with fresh Iranian training, Iraqi and other
officials said.
"It is not clear whether the radical Shi'ite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr is in control of the newly trained
group, which some Iraqis describe as a 'secret army'
trained and equipped by Iran."
But due to misjudgments and underplays by
decision-makers in most major U.S. news media, the
story somehow was not considered worthy of its own
front-page headline or its prime-time airspace on
the TV news. Word that the militia had
returned _ apparently to put the surge to its first
real test _ was put way down deep in Iraq-war stories
that led with other angles. Until April 3, when The
Los Angeles Times gave big play to its own story that
reported elements of al Sadr's militia have broken
away from him because they did not want to cease
attacks and lay low; they have reportedly returned
to fight and are now apparently under the influence
of Iranian militants. Slate Magazine's daily news
digest hailed the L.A. Times for its "scoop," which
was basically what the Washington Times had on March
30.
Meanwhile, a bizarre photo op and press conference
in Baghdad last weekend during an all-Republican
congressional visit wound up showcasing Sen. John
McCain of Arizona, the once-but-no-longer GOP
presidential front-runner.
The 2000 campaign's joyful straight-talking maverick
candidate has restyled himself as a conservative
mainstreamer, hoping to be seen as a GOP winner. But
he has tumbled in all ways _ in the polls, in
fund-raising, and mainly in good humor and
campaign-trail joy. McCain, who once rightly blasted
Bush for sending too few troops into Iraq, now seems
desperate to grasp at any brass ring that might be
labeled success on the Iraq merry-go-round.
At the Baghdad session with journalists, the sort of
gaggle he had eating crumbs from his hand in 2000,
he seemed curt, bitter, gruff _ and borderline
absurd. McCain insisted that Iraq's streets and the
outdoor market he just toured was now plenty safe.
Huh? The market area was heavily guarded for this
antiseptic congressional visit _ a point Baghdad
merchants derisively made to a New York Times
reporter. McCain seemed not to realize he'd only
been performing in a one-ring media circus.
America's still-unaccomplished mission in Iraq isn't
about keeping congressional delegations safe. It is
about making Baghdad safe. And now, with the Shia
militia reportedly back and gearing up for a fight,
America may get its first clue about whether this
surge can ever work.
But so far all we know is that when there is no
enemy to fight, our casualties can be quite low.
This article linked from: antiwar.com
(as are many posts seen in this NG)
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/20797
--
Jeffrey Blankfort on Washington DC's
subservience to the Israel Lobby:
http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2006/11/blankfort-interview.html
illuminating full interview with Jeffrey Blankfort:
http://bleiersblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/jeffrey-blankfort-my-years-of-middle.html
.
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