Gen. Abizaid: Militias curse of region

Multi-National Forces-Iraq ^ | Jacquelyn S. Porth

[SandRat]

Iraqi Police in Mosul began specialized training with the Coalition's Police Transition Team in July. Department of Defense photo by Cpl. Richard Vogt.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. commander who oversees military operations in the Middle East says extremism “remains a serious danger to global peace and stability” and that the influence of private militias in the Middle East must be curbed.

Army Gen. John Abizaid , who leads the U.S. Central Command, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that the forces of extremism are strong, ruthless and well-connected and that private militias as “the curse of the region.”

The enemy exists not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, but in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.  But the vast majority of the people in this broad region of the world do not want to see extremism win, the commander added.

Testifying on the subject of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Global War on Terror, Abizaid said the Iraqi government, in particular, understands the need to increase its military capacity over time to defeat the extremists there.  Pakistani and Saudi forces also are fighting extremists daily in their respective countries, he said.

Gen. John Abizaid

Abizaid said the sectarian violence in Iraq, especially in Baghdad, is as bad as he has ever witnessed.

If that violence is not halted, he warned, “It is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war.”  But he also said that a violent period could be followed by the stability that Iraq needs.

Marine Gen. Peter Pace , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Shi’ia and Sunni have to decide they love their children more than they hate each other, so that the level of violence can be tempered.

He said the Iraqis who aspire to a better way of life must “seize the moment,” and he predicted that they would do so once they lose patience with the current security situation.

Both military officers said they do not expect Iraq to gravitate toward civil war because Iraqi government institutions are intact and the necessary diplomatic, political and military steps are being applied to bring the situation under control.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld , who also testified with Pace and Abizaid, said the U.S. role is to support the Iraqi government and, so far, it is holding together, as is the Iraqi Army.

Abizaid did express concern that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have trained rogue Shi’ia groups in Iraq.  He also indicated that the Iranian government is paying some members of the private Mahdi army in Iraq.  The general said it is vital to persuade groups who have pledged allegiance to militias to pledge their loyalty to the state, instead.

Iraq death squads will be targeted

The Iraqi government will do what is necessary to bring the sectarian violence under control and end the death squads, Abizaid said.

When pressed on this issue, he said U.S. military forces will work with the Iraqi security forces to eliminate known death squads.

While some Iraqis are fighting because they do not want to embrace a new government and some want to promote anarchy, Abizaid said, most of the Iraqis want a free, independent nation that is not dominated by Shi’ia extremist groups or by Iranian influences.

Combating extremism, whether it is in Iraq or elsewhere, requires the international community to exhibit a strong, united, collective will to face down the extremist threat from any direction, whether Iran or al-Qaida, according to Abizaid.

While weapons of mass destruction may not have been discovered in Iraq, Abizaid said that does not mean the extremists are not trying to develop such weapons.  Because the extremists are working daily to obtain these weapons, he said, it is incumbent on the United States to help shape the regional environment so that the opponents of extremism can help themselves.

The United States is pursuing a strategy to defeat al-Qaida, deter Iranian nuclear ambitions and find a lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict to facilitate this, he said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)

[SandRat]

Iraq News/Opinion

[mosquewatch.com]

The big myth "Peace in the Middle East"

[AdvisorB]

General, you dropped the ball. You had a chance to wipe out Moqtada al-Sadr and his supporters and in a crucial moment, you flinched. The Coalition Provisional Authority wanted mooqie wasted and you guys dragged your feet.

I know you have done a great job, under tremendous pressure General, and I am behind you and the mission 100%. I just think at a pivotal moment a mistake was made. And when you make a mistake, it is up to you to rectify that mistake. We're waiting General, and if the sadrites act up we expect you to finish the job. The Iraqi equivalent of nasrullah needs to be taken out.

[McGavin999]

Uh, it was Sanchez who was there at the time, and he backed off getting rid of Sadar at the request of Sistani and the Iraqi Hawza. They said they could take care of him. Turns out they couldn't, but it's not Abazaid's fault.

[ClaireSolt]

This is looking like a strategy. Al Queda first. then, Iran and its proxies. I don't think it is an accident that Hez etc are in focus now.

[petertare]

PC kinder and gentler warfare has resulted in our present predicament. We failed to destroy the Iraqi army, and we failed to destroy the militias nor control the trade/smuggling routes.

B52s visiting on a daily basis could have changed all this early on. But no we chose to wage a GI/marine take that house with your M9 strategy.

Maximum violence employed ceaselessly to conflict end yields the least casualties and shortest war.

Can we recover, or is it over, over there?

[jwparkerjr]

Was it the general who dropped the ball, or was it whoever was running the war from higher up the chain? My son-in-law is a major in one of the commands that are directly responsible for conducting operations in Iraq and although he is very limited in what he can say or discuss, and he's VERY good at keeping what he knows to himself, he says the early operations were not the choice of the military at all. Of course, he could just be trying to move the blame to someone else. It's easy to say, "Oh gosh, if only I could share what I know with you then you would see that none of this is OUR fault."

I've seen enough on my own though to know that the early post-invasion policy really missed the mark, and it's going to take a lot more now to control the situation than it would have from the git-go.

[John Lenin]

I've seen enough on my own though to know that the early post-invasion policy really missed the mark

War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory.
Georges Clemenceau (1841 - 1929)

[Longbow1969]

Can we recover, or is it over, over there?

Probably over the minute creating Muslim democracy became the goal. If it ever had a chance of working, the two most pivotal moments of spectacular failure (among many) that probably doomed even the slightest chance of success was the unwillingness to prevent Falluja from becoming an enemy stronghold and the failure to kill Muqtada al-Sadr when we had the chance.

We fought a PC war Iraq and the result has been disasterous. In addition to destroying Bush's Presidency, it has made the American public far less likely to be willing to take the fight to the enemy again any time soon.

[John Lenin]

Blah, blah, blah. War is like a 15 round title fight, some rounds you win and some rounds you will lose, it isn't over until it over.

[Longbow1969]

..and sometimes a fighter manages to make it through the entire 15 round bout, even when it became clear to most observers what the outcome would be from near the very beginning.

[John Lenin]

We could deliver the knockout punch tomorrow but than we would be the world pariah and would be facing the World Court. The Islamofascist's will make a bad move in the not so distant future.

We did it to ouselves after WWII (Nuremburg Trials/Geneva Convention) and 40 years of demoRAT rule

[AdvisorB]

You may be right. But to listen to Dan Senor one couldn't help but come away from the conclusion that the Pentagon, which included Sanchez, and his boss, Abazaid, and his boss, the head of Joint Chiefs, and his boss Donald Rumsfeld we're weary of taking on Sadr.

[AdvisorB]

Thank you sir, and please thank yor son-in-law for his service to our beloved Republic.

Dan Senor the other day was saying that the Coalition Provisional Authority had proof that Sadr had been instrumental in the killing of the pro-American shiite cleric, Ayatollah al-Khoe. An Iraqi judge issued the arrest warrant, and the CPA pushed to have Sadr arrested. The Pentagon, including many high-ranking military officers opposed doing anything that would rile up the shiites.

Senor says that at the time Sadr was leader of a rag-tag group in the hundreds. When Sadr successfully stood up to American power, he became a hero to the shiite underclass and his support mushroomed into the thousands. We diddled, and temporized, and got serious and then negotiated all the while al-Sadr gained strength. Today, Moqtada mobilized 200,000 shiites in an anti-Israel, anti-American rally, no doubt at the behest and with Iranian financial backing. We have allowed the establishment of an Iraqi hezbollah, and done very little to stop it. The Iranians have to be laughing at our bumbling incompetence in relation to our kidglove treatment Sadr. We have only emboldened our shia foes, and it we will have to pay the consequences for our lack of resolve. Bringing Mooqie into the political process was similar to Lebanon bringing Nasrullah into the political process. The difference being Lebanon dealt from a position of weakness, while we dealt from a position of strength. We will rue the day that sadr wasn't dealt with when we had the opportunity.

[river rat]

Who is to say, that some of the armed gangs of "thugs", are not OUR "thugs"?

If we DON'T have our own "thugs" touring the country/world, and killing bastards that need kill'in -- then we're not playing the game to win...

Sadr has lived far too long, and played a role in the deaths of far too many Iraqi and coalition forces..

Semper Fi