Posted on 10/20/2006 6:58:58 AM PDT by areafiftyone
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The Shiite militia run by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized total control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by one of the country's powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki dispatched an emergency security delegation that included the Minister of State for Security Affairs and top officials from the Interior and Defense ministries, Yassin Majid, the prime minister's media adviser, told The Associated Press.
The Mahdi Army fighters stormed three main police stations Friday morning, planting explosives that flattened the buildings, residents said.
About 800 black-clad militiamen with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers were patrolling city streets in commandeered police vehicles, eyewitnesses said. Other fighters had set up roadblocks on routes into the city and sound trucks circulated telling residents to stay indoors.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
pretty teeth.
That somehow has to be in breech of the Geneva convention...
Even Hans Blix would refuse to inspect that...
Yes, I'm saying that. It's a city of 350,000 people, with, at most a few thousand militiamen in it. If you are entertaining any hope we're going to bomb the city, let me be the first to break the news to you. It ain't happening.
Ancient history. You may as well mention Carthage, Babylon and Troy.
Our soldiers and Marines walk past IEDs that these people place, and fall to snipers in their homes, but we can't do what Eisenhower and LeMay did in WWII: bomb them into submission. They have to do Stalingrad redux.
Why? Because if we used all our firepower we would win . . . . . thank you Dhiimicrats and friends.
Even were it not, politically the Iraqi government itself will want to handle the issue. That's going to be complicated. The Shia dominated government is infiltrated by Sadrists, Iranian agents, and others who may have an interest in seeing the central government fail. The Iraqi army doesn't want to fight the Medhi militia, for a number of reasons.
I'm not really seeing this situation as an opportunity for us.
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Good thing you are not a commander on the ground or at the Pentagon.
Our "leadership" needs to decide whether or not they want to win this war. If we do, then by God, we'd better start fighting it like we mean it: no more of this "cultural sensitivity" bullcrap. And if we don't mean to decisively win this war, then we should damn well pull out now and stop sending our troops to die for territory that the enemy will get back the day after they take it.
Sadr, et al, probably have a direct line to MSM and a Rooters photographer on their payroll, just so we US homefolks get Tet-ed all over again. I only glad the befuddled Walter H.* Cronkite isn't on the bullhorn every night to help them.
*Harrruuumph
Agreed. Unfortunately, politicians are calling the shots and they apparently like to see our enemies live to kill more of our own, judging from the way they keep letting the likes of al-Sadr out of the noose.
It is a good thing. I was in Iraq when the four contractors in Fallujah were killed, and saw first hand what months of that limp wristed, politically mismanaged non-response did for the war effort. It was a terrible feeling to watch that much effort dumped down the drain by "political considerations." I don't envy the current commanders or senior leaders, who have no choice but to sit back and let politics play out again.
On the other hand, if you're just saying that because you don't like hearing the harsh truth about what constrains our war effort, then I don't know what to tell you.
He may as well be. This whole "it's complicated" cop-out is precisely what our "leaders" are pulling.
Used to be you waged wars in a direct fashion: you trained your troops, you located the enemy, you killed the enemy and deprived them of the means and will to fight. That was how you waged wars.
Instead, our troops are being slaughtered to accommodate "politically correct" lunacy.
Dead mullah walking....
Neat!!! Been wondering when they'd hole up somewhere. Now all that's needed is the bombs. Bye, bye, fat nasty slob Sadr.
"Many people post duplicates, get over it."
You teil 'em Area Fifty-one. I've been posting here for 10 years and I've still to understand all the anal retintive posters here concerning duplicate posts. For some of us they are helpful. Don't have time to search through all the posts. How hard is it to keep scrolling when you see something you've seen before? Sheesh!!! All I can say is there too many here who have too much time on their hands.
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