“They lived off our blood under Saddam. We were hungry with no food and they were comfortable with full bellies. They should leave now, or they will have to pay.”
I’m no fan of the Shia militias, in particular the Mahdi Army. In fact, I look forward each and every day to hearing on the radio that the Iraqi army has, with our help, ventilated scores of those goons.
But, hearing that they’re planning to kill off Saddam’s Palestinian Terror Cadre… sometimes, you just have to hope that both sides lose.
Zathras
/ January 23, 2007“sometimes, you just have to hope that both sides lose.”
Sounds like a lot of what I read from the 30s in regards to the Spanish Civil War. Seriously, is there is any other way they can learn?
Mike
/ January 23, 2007Nope. Like I told me hippie aunt, there are some people that need killing in this world and the Madi army is full of them, as is the other group. If we could just heard them together and then stand off to one side, I think our problem would solve itself.
Old Sadr wants to set himself up as the grand holy man, and we are standing in his way. But if he caps lots of Sunnis, he gets points from the Shia (and Iran), gets payback for his dad (Saddam capped him), and gets a nice little army on the side that he can use with the aid of infiltrators in the Police and Army to stage a coup.
Won’t happen though. FOr one we are catching his infiltrators and spotting them early on. Two we have the intimidation factor going for us (we already beat the snot of them about 2 years ago and if it hadn’t been for politics we would have put them town entirely). Three the Kurds wouldn’t go for it and they would whip his militia from here to Tel Aviv and back anyday of the week (Sadr has a militia, the Pershmerga is just about a real ARMY). The Sunnis don’t really matter in the factor anymore, they are pretty ground down and the foreign fighters are running out.
Reap what you sow. A bit cold and sure lots of Sunnis didn’t do anything, but payback is always a bitch if you insist on being tribal.
They did so here it is.
JimDesu
/ January 24, 2007No kumbaya for them! But couldn’t they just cap the bastards and be done with it? The whole bit with the drills (pun intended) is a little much for me.
happycrow
/ January 24, 2007I think Bush’s “come to Jesus meeting” with Al-Maliki two weeks ago has set matters on a slightly different course. It’s clear that the Mahdi dorks are on their way out… enabling Maliki to survive that politically will be a trick. But the more Maliki gets himself on Sadr’s shit list, the more he will appeal across other political lines as an honest broker.
Mike
/ January 24, 2007True. Iraq is going to be a mess compared to what we look for quite some time. But once the army is up and fairly good to go, it’s all over with. Militias and thugs don’t have the omph to overthrow the government.