A Bulletin on Baghdad and Basra from the Times of London

James Hilder writes:

Areas of Baghdad fall to militias as Iraqi Army falters in Basra: Iraq's Prime Minister was staring into the abyss today after his operation to crush militia strongholds in Basra stalled, members of his own security forces defected and district after district of his own capital fell to Shia militia gunmen. With the threat of a civil war looming in the south, Nouri al-Maliki's police chief in Basra narrowly escaped assassination in the crucial port city, while in Baghdad, the spokesman for the Iraqi side of the US military surge was kidnapped by gunmen and his house burnt to the ground.

Saboteurs also blew up one of Iraq's two main oil pipelines from Basra, cutting at least a third of the exports from the city which provides 80 per cent of government revenue, a clear sign that the militias -- who siphon significant sums off the oil smuggling trade -- would not stop at mere insurrection.

In Baghdad, thick black smoke hung over the city centre tonight and gunfire echoed across the city. The most secure area of the capital, Karrada, was placed under curfew amid fears the Mahdi Army of Hojetoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr could launch an assault on the residence of Abdelaziz al-Hakim, the head of a powerful rival Shia governing party. While the Mahdi Army has not officially renounced its six-month ceasefire, which has been a key component in the recent security gains, on the ground its fighters were chasing police and soldiers from their positions across Baghdad. Rockets from Sadr City slammed into the governmental Green Zone compound in the city centre, killing one person and wounding several more.

Mr al-Maliki has gambled everything on the success of Operation Saulat al-Fursan, or Charge of the Knights, to sweep illegal militias out of Basra. It has targeted neighbourhoods where the Mahdi Army dominates, prompting intense fighting with mortars, rocket-grenades and machineguns in the narrow, fetid alleyways of Basra. In Baghdad, the Mahdi Army took over neighbourhood after neighbourhood, some amid heavy fighting, others without firing a shot. In New Baghdad, militiamen simply ordered the police to leave their checkpoints: the officers complied en masse and the guerrillas stepped out of the shadows to take over their checkpoints.

In Jihad, a mixed Sunni and Shia area of west Baghdad that had been one of the worst battlefields of Iraq’s dirty sectarian war in 2006, Mahdi units moved in and residents started moving out to avoid the lethal crossfire that erupted. One witness saw Iraqi Shia policemen rip off their uniform shirts and run for shelter with local Sunni neighbourhood patrols, most of them made up of former insurgents wooed by the US military into fighting al-Qaeda. In Baghdad, thousands of people marched in demonstrations in Shia areas demanding an end to the Basra operation, burning effigies of Mr al-Maliki, whom they branded a new dictator, and carrying coffins with his image on it.

From his field headquarters inside Basra city, the Prime Minister vowed to press on with his attack, which he said was not targeting the Mahdi Army in particular but all lawless gangs. "We have come to Basra at the invitation of the civilians to do our national duty and protect them from the gangs who have terrified them and stolen the national wealth," he said. "We promise to face the criminals and gunmen and we will never back off from our promise." Supporters of Hojetoleslam al-Sadr, the rebellious cleric who formed the sprawling, 60,000-strong militia five years ago, have accused the Prime Minister of trying to wipe out the powerful Sadrists as a political force before provincial elections in October.

Residents of Basra complained that water and electricity had been turned off in the three main areas besieged by the Iraqi Army, which has an entire division deployed for the battle. They also said that they were running low on food an unable to evacuate their wounded. Estimates of the death toll in Basra reached as high as 200, with hundreds more wounded. “The battle is not easy without coalition support,” lamented one Basra resident, who had worked as a translator for the British forces. “The police in Basra are useless and helping the Mahdi Army. The militia are hiding among the civilians. This country will never be safe, I want to leave for ever. I don’t know how to get out of this hell.”

One man was shot in the leg while trying to fix the rooftop water tank on his house but feared he would be taken for a militiaman if he tried to reach a hospital. Officials said that more than 200 militiamen had surrendered after the Government issued a three-day deadline to give themselves up. While residents in Basra said that the army appeared to be making little headway against the militia bastions, a British Army spokesman based at nearby Basra airport said progress was being made. “The Iraqi Army are rebalancing across the city, consolidating their positions, resupplying and preparing for future operations,” said Major Tom Holloway. “They made considerable progress, although not total progress by any stretch of the imagination.”

With fighting flaring across the Shia south, the police chief of Kut — where Mahdi fighters had seized large parts of the town, 110 miles southeast of Baghdad — said his men had killed 40 militiamen while losing four officers. "The security forces launched an operation at around midnight to take back areas under the control of Shiite gunmen," Abdul Hanin al-Amara said. While US and British military officials have been at pains to distance themselves from the push against the deadly militias, President Bush praised the high-risk strategy of tackling militias that a politically weak Mr al-Maliki had been forced to court in the past. "Prime Minister Maliki's bold decision, and it was a bold decision, to go after the illegal groups in Basra shows his leadership and his commitment to enforce the law in an even-handed manner," Mr Bush said. "It also shows the progress the Iraqi security forces have made during the surge"...

Comments

[anne]

Because of America's immoral and insane invasion and occupation of Iraq hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead and millions more have lost homes.

We had no right to invade and no right to occupy and we must leave completely and immediately, but we would rather continue to destroy.

As in Somalia, we are using proxies to try to destroy al-Sadr's movement. We have no right, but there are American aircraft bombing in civilian areas.

Shame on us, shame on us.

[anne]

America has wanted to destroy Muktada al-Sadr from the beginning, as Bremer and Sanchez and even the war-mogering New York Times reporter Burns made clear. Only the Spanish forces fortunately prevented us from moving against al-Sadr, and partly in response to our self-destructiveness the Spanish left Iraq soon after preventing the taking of al-Sadr.

We are responsible, and we have no right, and we need to leave completely and immediately.

[RW]

It was a given that the Saulat al-Fursan of the al-Maliki government would fail utterly in its stated purpose so the more interesting question is: Did the Bush administration goad al-Maliki into this latest demonstration of impotence because it was stupid (or desperate) enough to think it had a chance or because they wanted a new face for Iraq because they believe al-Maliki is now too connected to the Bush regime's own failure to be useful.

Anyone remember S.Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem? History may not repeat itself but, yes, I suspect it does indeed rhyme and I do hope that al-Maliki's life insurance is up-to-date.

Speaking of which, anyone know if his sister-in-law, Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu the 'Dragon Lady,'is still around? Last I heard she was in Italy but, if alive, she would have to be over 80 by now.

[anne]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2004/04/12/iraq_ceasefire040412.html

April 12, 2004

U.S. Vows to Kill or Capture al-Sadr
By CBC NEWS

As coalition forces vowed to take Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr dead or alive, the radical Muslim leader agreed to meet a U.S. demand to end the standoff in southern Iraq.

"The mission of U.S. forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr," Lt.-Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said in news conference Monday."That is our mission."

Al-Sadr instructed his militiamen to pull out of police stations and government facilities in Najaf, according to one of his representatives.

Representatives of al-Sadr have been negotiating with Iraqi Shiite political parties to end the standoff between the U.S. forces and the cleric's forces.

The U.S. had demanded al-Sadr relinquish control of police and government sites in Najaf, Kufa and Karbala.

His followers began a bloody uprising on April 4, gaining control of the southern cities. Al-Sadr has vowed to turn Iraq into another Vietnam for the Americans.

The U.S. has also demanded al-Sadr dissolve his al-Mahdi Army, a demand his supporters reject.

It is not known if al-Sadr's partial agreement to meet a U.S. demand will affect the military's decision to hunt the cleric down.

Fallujah still quiet

Meanwhile a fragile ceasefire continues to hold in Fallujah. But the U.S. has warned it will launch another attack on the city unless there is progress in talks with rebels controlling southern areas of the country.

While people in Fallujah reported sporadic gunfire before dawn on Monday, the ceasefire appears to be holding for a second day.

Fallujah is where four U.S. contractors working in Iraq were captured, burned and their bodies mutilated. The ceasefire was part of negotiations between city officials and Iraq's Governing Council, which is seeking the surrender of those responsible for the March 31 incident.

Close to 1,200 U.S. marines were sent into the city on April 5.

Coalition military officials say they are hoping for a negotiated solution to the violence, but will launch a strong military assault unless talks between the U.S.-backed Governing Council and rebels continue.

Since April 1, close to 700 Iraqis and 70 coalition soldiers, including 62 U.S. marines, have been killed, U.S. military officials said Monday.

[anne]

These 5 years of needless horrid violence, for no reason, no moral or sane reason at all, yet we are preparing to occupy Iraq indefinitely. We must leave completely, but will even Barack Obama have us leave when so many influential voices demand we stay?

[bks]

Please remember to use the proper MSM construction

YES: radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr

This may be shortened to

IF YOU MUST:radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr

but

NEVER: Social services advocate Muqtada al-Sadr

--bks

[christofay]

No, I don't remember Prime Minister No Go Dim of South Vietnam. You say except for his mother and father he was an American creation?

What about that comment on the Cambodian Lon Nol? Have we Americans improved on our understanding of the people of the mega-continent Asia?

Can we penetrate the inscrutable Asian mind? Remember Greenspan's Conundrum when he couldn't figure out that it was the central planners of the largest Communist country that was supporting his 1 interest rate policy?

[christofay]

No, this isn't a Tet Offensive moment. Iraq isn't Vietnam, as any right thinking American pundit suitable for on-TV use might say.

Would it comfort you to hear that President Bush will be going to the NY Fed to direct rescue efforts personally from the Front Line? Remember when this blog used a phrase normally and only suitable for use describing public servants who risk their lives at work, "Today the Fed deserved its pay"?

Which end of the collapse in American policies scares you more, monetary or foreign relations?

How about an "Al Maliki, we are here" moment when 100,000 under 30 and graduated out of elite American colleges soon to be unemployed innovative finance industry volunteers report for the Iraqi front line?

[christofay]

"Attorney General Michael Mukasey vowed anew Thursday to crack down on crooked politicians and public officials, dismissing critics who accuse the Justice Department of letting partisan loyalties interfere with corruption cases."

The thought of action from our central government scares me more everyday. I love Barney the Fag Frank, the rep from the next district over and the home of the former Kurt Vonnegut, but the idea that he will propose legislation to rescue us financially is scary. If the democratic Congress can effect an evacuation from Iraq within the next 90 days, "Out of the Way by Memorial Day," is the only thing that can earn Washington a sticky gold star for the forehead and a chance to play again.

[christofay]

Goldmine Sachs, Goldmine Sachs
right as a rainmaker Goldmine Sachs

I'm working on a ditty about Goldmine Sachs that I plan to sell to them for fifty-four million dollars. There is a new Fed conduit that will provide financing for ditty rights acquisition. Will someone here please suggest more lyrics?

Look on the bright side, we'll climb out of this hole with exports, look at the example of the Fed govt contractors that are selling the Eastern European munitions older than Grandpa to our Lips & Teeth brothers the Afghanis? Those munitions are so old Greenspan's mother worked at a factory that made them. Those munitions are so old that Arnie's father used to duck from bullets that were made in the same production batch.

[Doctor Memory]

"It also shows the progress the Iraqi security forces have made during the surge"

Dear god in heaven, why are his handlers even letting him in front of a microphone any more?

[tom f]

Iran, take the US's failed state, please.

According to the sophisticated foreign policy elite (Anthony Cordesman) the horror of leaving boils down to allowing Iranian influence to grow in Iraq.

There's no shortage of Domino Theories, brilliantly transmutable for any imperial folly, that clearly require the Indespensable Nation to insert itself into and promote atrocities, corruption, and national defilement.

The fear of leaving Iraq is no less a Big Lie than the original raison de guerre. It's wrapped in a fancier package but it's probably as baseless as the necessity for invasion was.

We must leave, but we won't indeed.

[LarryK]

Au contraire, Tom. We will be forced to leave. This is probably not the end, but may be the beginning of the end. Neither Hillary nor Obama will end it. The Iraqis will force the U.S. out. And when we watch the helicopters take people out of the Green Zone, we'll be fondly reminded of the helicopters taking people off the embassy roof lo these many years ago in Vietnam.

So, everyone, cheer up! The end of the Iraq War is in sight. Hopefully when we get our butts kicked this time, we'll get our butts kicked for good. Though that would certainly be too much to hope for.

[Jack]

I would like to note something on a related topic--that Kagan, and he may be taken to stand in for almost any neocon, has been ridiculed lately for declaring the civil war in Iraq is over, and this recent explosion of violence in Iraq is taken as definitive evidence that Kagan is wrong.
But we should be clear here: Kagan was referring to the civil war between the Sunni insurgency and the Shia security forces, or possibly the intra-Sunni conflict between "The Awakening" and Al-Qaeda In Iraq. He was not referring to the Shia-Shia civil conflict (Badr Brigade versus Sadrites) nor the civil war among the Kurds, nor the potential conflicts between Kurds and Sunni and Shia, nor the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds (which is not a civil war, after all) nor the imminent civil war "The Awakening" is preparing for and which it will take place with whichever Shia force emerges as the immediate threat to the newly armed, recently repentent (no, really, they are) insurgents of "The Awakening" that has been infiltrated by Al-Qeada elements.
So, you see, Kagan is not a hopelessly worthless idiot after all. He's more of an intellectually and morally bankrupt embarrassment to America.

[tom f]

I'm sure whatever Kagan meant my "the civil war's over" it doesn't translate into "so now we can go home."