Posted on 03/28/2008 10:07:34 PM PDT by river rat
Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides.
Mehdi Army fighters loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hold their weapons while flashing the V sign in Basra
Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra.
His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the other side without a second thought.
Such turncoats are the thread that could unravel the British Army’s policy in southern Iraq. The military hoped that local forces would be able to combat extremists and allow the Army to withdraw gradually from the battle-scarred and untamed oil city that has fallen under the sway of Islamic fundamentalists, oil smugglers and petty tribal warlords. But if the British taught the police to shoot straight, they failed to instil a sense of unwavering loyalty to the State.
“We know the outcome of the fighting in advance because we already defeated the British in the streets of Basra and forced them to withdraw to their base,” Abu Iman told The Times.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
If Basra falls to Sadr's "army".......then what? It's boiling down to more than a Shiite/Sunni issue -- it seems to be moving toward a Muslim/"Crusader" thing again, with Iran pushing Sadr down our throats..
Do we need to defeat Sadr militia/Iran is a devastating and destructive manner -- or do we simply wait for the Democrats to take us out and had them an easy bloodless victory?
In two weeks time the US troops and Iraqi army will crush the Mahdi terrorists in Basra and all over Iraq.
is that a prediction or a hope?
This has the look of Fallujah I written all over it.
Seems Bush and company did not learn the lesson well enough the first time.
Go in guns ablazing with overwhelming firepower, destroy the enemy unmercifully, and you don’t have to do Fallujah II.
Tet Offensive Part 2.
In one week or less time, J is being generous. Our guys piled in on this yesterday to turn this around.
That’s probably about how much time we have before things in Basra spin out of control and SPREADS.....
As a big time fan of the British soldier and much less of an admirer of their leadership at times I agree with you 100%.
Basra needs the a$$ kicking it apparently missed out on under British rule. The cops in Fallujah used to switch sides too, the IA as well. We need a cleansing in southern Iraq.
Leave W out of this.
Give credit to Petraus when this is cleaned up.
Is the timing of Putin’s play for ‘oil’ futures connected with Iran’s move in Basra?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993428/posts
No, this has the look of the re-defeat of the Mahdi Army.
This is Iran funding criminals and the Iraqi govt shutting it down:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993397/posts
The worst police in Iraq is in Basra, but the army is capable and reliable ... (Michael Yon) ...
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-frontlines.html
Nothing to do with religion, it is power and money...
This is defeatist media babble.
Well, it’s not just Sadr’s militia that is involved. There’s the Badr Brigade, and other militias associated with the ruling parties that are fighting. Lucky for us, the Shiites aren’t united with Sadr.
I’m beginning to think the Brits never have come to terms with the absolute untrustworthiness of militant Islamists...
Or maybe — the Islamists are exercising payback for “Lawrence”..
They will not EVER be admitted to their gentleman’s clubs in London — but they may own them one day...
ping
How are things?
And that's the thing that runs through my mind, the more they send at our boys, the more that gets killed. Whether shiite or sunni or Iranian, it doesn't matter. Even when they want to die, the American soldier and those trained by him keeps sending them straight to hell. This battle is important and it is so huge, bigger than anyone forsaw but it is winnable.
Mookie has the backing of Iran. Hardly what I’d call a “Muslim/Crusader thing”. But good analysis of the immediate situation. The Brits really didn’t do a thorough job now, did they?
If Iraq is EVER to be a “stand alone” entity - free of blackmail by Sadr and his type -— Basra needs to be a major “Sadr milita” gravesite and wasteland.....along with how ever much of Sadr City within Baghdad must be leveled to “make the point”....
Jihad is war..... These Jihadists THINK they have seen war.
War can be a real bitch when a World Power determines to “make war”...... not play tit for tat slap face...
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