Posted on 05/11/2008 3:11:36 PM PDT by Col. Bob
For the first time in weeks Sadr City saw no fighting Sunday, day one of yet another hastily brokered cease-fire between U.S.-backed Iraqi forces and the Shi'ite Mahdi Army militia. Word of the pact emerged Saturday night, when an aide to Mahdi Army leader Muqtada al-Sadr said a deal had been reached to end roughly two months of street fighting in eastern Baghdad. Soon afterward, U.S. and Iraqi officials endorsed the agreement, which came as Iraqi forces working with U.S. troops were signaling plans for a new push to break from areas where they had remained stuck for weeks. Details of the cease-fire remain largely unclear beyond an immediate end to the battles that have displaced thousands of residents from the Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City, a vast slum home to more than 2 million people.
In announcing the deal, al-Sadr aide Sheik Salah al-Obeidi said the agreement, "stipulates that the Mahdi Army will stop fighting in Sadr City and will stop displaying arms in public. In return, the government will stop random raids against al-Sadr followers and open all closed roads that lead to Sadr City."
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
I think Col. Bob full moniker is Colon Robert. ;-)
Bump!
Mark Kukis is the problem not Col Bob.
I hate these ****ing lying traitors.
This Time article is more lies and deceit by the SurrenderMedia.
Charles Johnson has a post on this Time story.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/29904_Time_Magazine_Hearts_Al-Sadr
A few more “victories” like this and Al-Sadr will be buried in a shallow grave outside of Tehran.
Tell that to his 1000 troops that we killed. They’ll smile triumphantly during their Dirt Nap.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Bump!
Iraqi forces will also be on the district's streets, conducting searches and raids to detain wanted individuals, according to al-Obeidi****
per CNN
If Al-Sadr won I figure his militia would be the ones patrolling the Green Zone and detaining all US and Iraqi Troops.
Sadr has had so many ‘victories’ in the last couple of months, he should be running the place.
I believe Bill Roggio longwar journal.
From Tomorrow CSm:
Hasty truce with Moqtada al-Sadr tests his sway in Baghdad stronghold
****************************EXCERPT********************
The truce was hastily reached as Mr. Maliki's government announced a new offensive in Mosul against forces affiliated with Al Qaeda in Iraq. Maliki has said since January that he would take the fight against Al Qaeda to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, believed to be the group's last urban stronghold in Iraq. Some Iraqi government officials have suggested that Maliki wanted the battle with Shiite militias quieted before the Mosul offensive.
The Sadr City agreement does not call for the disarming or disbanding of the Mahdi Army, which was Maliki's demand that touched off fighting between his forces and the militia in late March. But it does call on Mahdi Army fighters to keep their weapons out of public view. All explosives planted in the streets of Sadr City are to be removed and the launching of rockets and mortars from the area – scores of which hit Iraqi and US government buildings in the Green Zone over recent weeks – is to stop.
Those attacks on the Green Zone drew the US military into the Sadr City fight, though US officials, including US Commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus, had encouraged Maliki to find a negotiated solution to the differences with Sadr. At the same time, US military officials have increasingly blamed the violence in Sadr City on "criminals," "gangs," and "special groups" trained and armed by Iran, and less on JAM, the acronym for the Sadr militia's Arabic name.
Several Iraqi officials said Iran was a party to the effort to stop the fighting in Sadr City, which Iranian officials have called warfare against Iraqi Shiites. If true, the Iranian involvement would follow a pattern set when Iranian officials played a key role in ending fighting between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi and US forces last month in the southern city of Basra.
And it would underscore Iran's growing political influence in Iraq.
On Sunday US military officials said negotiations on details of a truce were continuing between the government and Sadr representatives. But they said military operations in Sadr City had been "limited" as of Saturday night, based on expectations of an agreement.
*********************************EXCERPT***************************
It remains to be seen how successful the deal will be at ending the fighting, which assistance organizations warned last week was leading to a humanitarian crisis. Militants in the slum have demonstrated varying degrees of loyalty to Sadr, who is thought to be in Iran.
If fighting and mortar-launching continue despite the truce, it could be a sign that Sadr has lost control of large factions within his militia.
So let me get this straight, the war is lost when the so called "civil war" is being fought, AND the war is lost when the parties reach agreement and stop fighting. Amazing.
Hey, the media is not only in the bag for al Sadr in the sense that it paints his defeats as victories, it also ignores his atrocities while gleefully highlighting every questionable thing our side does.
From The Sunday Times
May 11, 2008
“Parading of fighters’ bodies taunts Mahdi Army”
Some Iraqi soldiers put the corpses of Mookie’s terrorists on the hoods of their Humvees, to the delight of all (as you can hear by the horns honking and cheers), and this is therefore the end of the world as we know it.
Not a peep from all the outraged humanitarians when Muslims desecrate American or Israeli bodies, but this here parading of bodies proves that the entire mission in Iraq is corrupt, a war crime, a disaster, a nightmare, etc., etc.
Also, not a peep about the horrendous atrocities Mookie’s thugs committed in Basra for four years. They raped, murdered, kidnapped, tortured, and oppressed, which is why their lifeless bodies are being mocked now. Context is everything.
These are Arabs. This is what they do. And the fact is, we need them in our war against Iranian hegemony.
In WWII we allied with the Soviets, who did a lot worse than parade corpses.
But just to assuage the delicate sensibilities of those who find this the worst thing ever, I’ll say, “Bad Iraqis! Bad! Don’t parade any more dead terrorists, okay?”
There.
Operations continue in Sadr City
And outside of Sadrcity....
*********************EXCERPT**********************
US and Iraqi forces continue to strike at the Mahdi Army in Baghdad despite the agreement reached between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army late Friday. Seventeen Mahdi Army fighters were killed in northeastern Baghdad over the past 24 hours.
The building of the wall continues...see link just above.
How many more of these “victories” can Mookie afford?
When you are getting beat like a rented mule, a cease-fire that you asked for is hardly a victory. Unless, old Mookie has more targets than we have bullets.
Now That I’ve got your attention read the real story of the ceasefire al-Sadr rushed to agree to. Fortunately the Mahdi Army is acting just like Al-Qaeda and like AQI they have PO’d the local Shiite population who are fed up with them and are glad to see their demise along with their Iranian handlers. Even al-Sistani has lost patience with these mafia-like thugs.
Enjoy the following article.
“Propaganda Runs Rampant As Iran, Islamicists And The Liberal Western Media Find Common Cause”
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/5408
And fortunately US and Iraqi forces will keep up the pressure to make the Mahdi Army go the way of AQI. The MSM and our two “progressive” presidential candidates are really going to be upset with a US/Iraqi victory after the’ve spent so much time convincing us that we’ve lost the war in Iraq...not!!!
Wishful thinking by the American media.
The american media openly allies itself with Al Sadr.
Sadr got whipped again. he cannot keep out US and Iraqi forces as he promised to.
Now he is compromising. Score another one for the good guys.
Time uses this guy as its main source, it appears.
In announcing the deal, al-Sadr aide Sheik Salah al-Obeidi said the agreement, "stipulates that the Mahdi Army will stop fighting in Sadr City and will stop displaying arms in public. In return, the government will stop random raids against al-Sadr followers and open all closed roads that lead to Sadr City."
It better supports Time's agenda.
The truth of the matter is that operations have not stopped. The ISF is in Sadr City continuing to round up the thugs.
The way the media blatantly slants these things is reprehensible.
The liberals/media are more desperate than ever. It is an election year, after all. ;-)
Anything for Nobama and the loss of the war. Go Iraq! Kick their terrorist butts!
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