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POPSFrom Fallujah To Diyala, The Target Has Shifted As I have recently mentioned, many of the Sunni Awakening groups are holding out for more money, and threatening to rejoin the ranks of their previous insurgent groups, including AQI and the 1920's Revolutionary Brigade. Our own Alex Horton wrote an insightful post about this here. http://armyofdude.blogspot.com/2008/07/enemies-with-benefits.html It seems now that this unrest may be a sign of more to come in Diyala. The province is predominantly Arab Sunni but sizeable communities of Sunni Kurds and Arab and Kurdish Shiites live there.
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POPSDon't Look Now--but the Surge is About to Backfire as Iraq poised to Explode
The first is the brewing crisis over Kirkuk, where the pushy Kurds are demanding control and Iraq’s Arabs are resisting. The second is in the west, and Anbar, where the US-backed Sons of Iraq sahwa (”Awakening”) movement is moving to take power against the Iraqi Islamic Party, a fundamentalist Sunni bloc. And third is the restive Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, which is chafing at gains made by its Iranian-backed rival, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) The final crisis-to-be is the Sadr vs. Badr one. The Times today suggests that Sadr is weakening: The militia that was once the biggest defender of poor Shiites in Iraq, the Mahdi Army, has been profoundly weakened in a number of neighborhoods across Baghdad, in an important, if tentative, milestone for stability in Iraq. Don’t believe it. Sadr’s rivals, ISCI, don’t have anything like the popular base that Sadr has. And underneath Sadr is a volatile mix of neighborhood, local and regional militias, mosques, and econom
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POPSMcCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on McCain's mistakes raise a serious, if uncomfortable question: Are the gaffes the result of his age? And what could that mean in the Oval Office? Voters, thinking about their own relatives, can be expected to scrutinize McCain’s debate performances for signs of slippage
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POPS Support an Iraq Referendum
We are continually told that we must stay in Iraq to prevent a sectarian blood bath. But the Iraqi people don't seem to share this fear, and perhaps with good reason. A study of violent attacks in Iraq indicates that the sectarian violence has largely subsided, and that most of the remaining violence is directed at the occupation, and at government officials who are perceived to be collaborating with US. forces. http://www.countercurrents.org/lin190308.htm This would seem to indicate that violence in Iraq could dwindle away to nothing, if only we would leave. Of course, no one can guarantee what will happen in Iraq if U.S. forces depart. But the same is true for the opposite position. It's possible that the violence will continue precisely because the occupation continues. It's time to cut through the pointless, circular debate. It's time to ask the Iraqi people what they want, NOT what U.S. politicians want. The Iraqi people should decide. That's democracy, isn't it?
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POPSAnti-Americanism is Mostly Hype American liberalism is heavily invested in this narrative of U.S. isolation. The Shiites have their annual ritual of 10 days of self-flagellation and penance, but this liberal narrative is ceaseless: The world once loved us, and all Parisians were Americans after 9/11, but thanks to President Bush we have squandered that sympathy.... Indeed, in the Arab world of the future, there will be streets and shrines dedicated to George W. Bush, their liberator. Future generations will admire this American president who, against all odds and resisted viciously by rabid liberals, courageously held the line and in the end, prevailed.
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POPSThe Iraqi Upturn This started out as a "good news" clip...and it is! But is the Washington Post suggesting that *President Obama* can take credit for the withdrawal?
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POPSMcCain whiffs on Shi'ites & Sunnis yet again! "and repeated the false claim that Muqtada al-Sadr declared the ceasefire in Basra last week." Would your average armchair news-watcher make that mistake? Again and again? This is important, friends, not as a put-down of McCain, but as an essential part of the evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of candidates for the most powerful elected office on earth. Does he have it together on the basics of foreign policy?
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POPSThe U.S. Applies Pressure on Iraq for its oil...or else! This excellent article from Walrus Magazine of Canada, makes very important reading for anyone truly interested in the U.S. arm twisting and manipulations of the Iraqi government to convince them to give up their sovereignty of its own natural resource so the U.S. interests can control it. This is really a MUST READ.
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POPS Iraqi Sheikh "Evicting Iranian Regime" The groups demand the United Nations "dispatch a delegation to investigate. The People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran The organization has been labeled a terrorist group by the United States, Iraq and Iran -- all for different reasons -- but it continues to operate in Iraq under the U.S. military's protection. The United States considers the group a source of valuable intelligence on Iran. Some signs suggest tensions are easing: Iraqi and U.S. officials have indicated recently that Iran is using its influence to improve security in Iraq by restraining cross-border weapons flow and militia activity, and U.S. commanders released nine Iranian prisoners in Iraq this month. Iran has blamed the group for supporting Shiite insurgents, but the organization has said "these allegations are only to cover up the crimes of the Iranian regime and its mercenaries in Iraq," according to the Shiite group's statement.
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POPSDemocrats' 'F' Troop Just a general assessment of the *current* climate in Iraq and in the US. Despite every negative event that can be scrounged up, there is hope in Iraq for the US to be able to successfully turn the security and management of Iraq over to their elected government. It's happening even now. The rest is up to them That is not to deny that there maybe/will be in-fighting and jockeying for power. The US, and others, most certainly will maintain a "presence" in the Country. It would be foolish, in light of our national and personal investments, to do otherwise. But the Democrats *apparent* desire for defeat, failure and dishonorable withdrawal won't be there. Shame, shame on them.
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POPSLately, Iraq news vanishes from the MSM • Iraqi civilian casualties are down two-thirds from their peak in December 2006. • Iraq's government and the U.S. military say al-Qaida has been vanquished in Baghdad, as thousands of Iraqi families return to the capital to rebuild their lives. • The U.S. has announced it will remove 3,000 troops, with more to follow in coming months, as the wind-down of the surge begins. But so it goes with anti-war news organizations that aggressively report setbacks in Iraq but give short, if any, shrift to the positive developments. It's to the point where some news observers use the absence of news about Iraq as a bellwether of U.S. progress — the old "no news is good news" indicator.
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