Posted on 03/29/2007 10:03:55 PM PDT by jmc1969
Shi'ite militiamen, who melted away from Baghdad when U.S. and Iraqi troops began their security crackdown seven weeks ago, are rolling back into the city with fresh Iranian training, Iraqi and other officials said.
It is not clear whether the radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is in control of the newly trained group, which some Iraqis describe as a "secret army" trained and equipped by Iran.
Videotapes and other evidence of Iranian propaganda have been found on people recently detained in Sadr City, said a member of one of the multiple Iraqi and U.S. security forces trying to return security to Baghdad.
A new element appears to be entering the territory: an extreme Mahdi Army splinter group that broke off from Sheik al-Sadr, went to Iran for training and started to return, said one Iraqi with intimate knowledge of the group.
"This is a special group, used for special operations, not controlled by Muqtada al-Sadr. This is a secret army," said the Iraqi, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals. "They work for Iranian intelligence. They have good weapons, good salary."
The group's objectives are not clear, but the Iraqi said he thought the goal was to exacerbate simmering strife between Sunnis and Shi'ites.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Solution....
Relocate all Shias to the East bank of the Tigres.
Only Sunni are allowed habitation on the west bank.
Bring in the CATs and make the Roads 8 lanes. Destroy all buildings along the route higher than two stories.
Ensure that all buildings along the main artery have a 3 lane road behind them.
No place to hide, no place to retreat.
Checkmate!
Endless civil war.
well, thank bush boy, cheney, rumsfeld and bremer for this mess.
Failure to secure borders is costing the US at home and abroad.
Hezbolla has arrived....
These Iranian backed militiamen's first priority will be to bleed us with IEDs. Their second priority will be to try to spark sectarian violence to destabilize Iraq and open the country up to more direct Iranian intervention.
You and a number of others are deaf and blind, just as they were when they allowed Hitler to mow them over like grass.
Unfortunately, for the U S, the time to have stopped the Mahdi Army and its many offspring was within the first 3 months of the invasion. We did not and probably now can not without a complete redo of the war and that is not going to happen.
We are in a long war and it will not be over before the next election no matter what the democrats think or do.
The militia heard that the US congress imposed a deadline to withdraw and they are going to take as many casulties with them as possible.
WHY DON'T ANYONE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IRAN???????????????
We're trying to build up before we've torn down.
Not gonna work most likely.
"We are in a long war and it will not be over before the next election no matter what the democrats think or do."
That's why I have decided not to hyperventilate. A retreat now might actually serve to out the Dems as surrender monkeys - because 6 months after we leave we will have to be back in. Hopefully with our EPA approved glassification bombs.
Many people understand that.
The media, and socialist liberals refuse to grasp such a simple concept.
Unfortunately, thus far, Iran has partially succeeded in attempting to extend their hegemony over central, western & southern Iraq, and hence onward thru Syria and Lebanon. Radical Shiite clerics have virtual control of the south, including Basra, no thanks to the British hands off approach to providing stability to the government there. Their obvious next target is Bagdad and environs with an objective of marginalizing the Sunni population of that area. Only the Kurdish areas seem to be safe from Iranian aggression, buffered ironically by Turkey on the north.
Allawi and the Iraqi Army could stop it if the WH has the nads to let him.
No, their first priority is to get more Democrats and Republicans to surrender and join the Pelosi-Al-Qaeda Temporary Alliance (PAQTA)
What kind of effective training can be done in 30 days or so? They may indeed be returning, but I wouldn't expect them to be super-soldiers. More like shake-n-bake cannon fodder.
They left in early January.
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