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.
Leave W out of this.
Give credit to Petraus when this is cleaned up.
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.
All of this is a big validation of President Bush in Iraq.
The British/ Democrat theory of warfighting has been dealt a devastating but empircally proven critique.
Soft does not sell in war.
The Americans never promoted the soft approach and endured considerable European and global ridicule for their harsh tactics throughout the larger parts of Iraq.
Now the reality is transparent. The larger hard segments of Coalition forces will crush the soft turncoats of Basrah.
It is only a matter of time. And while every moment of that time will be exploited by the Anti American media to Blame Bush it will not be enough to allow the Mahdi army to prevail. Sadr has turned tail and Bush has nothing to lose politically.
Hundreds of Sadrist traitors have already been killed and many more will be. All of these deaths are the fault of European style war fighting.
Praise to Bush, Petraus and the great American and Irqi forces.
Two words: Arc Light