Big News Out Of Basra

National Post ^ | 2008-04-05 | David Frum

[Clive]

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[Clive]

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[Cindy]

blog:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/04/a_look_at_operation_1.php

“A look at Operation Knights’ Assault”
By BILL ROGGIO
April 4, 2008 4:09 PM

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Previously...

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/04/iraqi_military_conti.php

“Iraqi military continues operations in Basrah”
By BILL ROGGIO
April 2, 2008 1:00 PM

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Ping.

[Bommer]

"…Mr. Maliki overestimated his military's abilities and underestimated the scale of the resistance. The Iraqi prime minister also displayed an impulsive leadership style that did not give his forces or that of his most powerful allies, the American and British military, time to prepare.

" 'He went in with a stick and he poked a hornet's nest, and the resistance he got was a little bit more than he bargained for,' said one official in the multinational force in Baghdad who requested anonymity. 'They went in with 70% of a plan. Sometimes that's enough. This time it wasn't.' "

So this is why Mookie wanted a cease-fire? "Hi, your army is loosing so lets broker peace? The only people that beg for a cease fire are either: A) getting their asses kick on the field, or B) getting their political asses kicked at home! Mookie fights for 3 days, looses 2-3% of his fighters, is declared the winner and demands a cease fire when he could supposedly defeat the Iraqi government!

What crack-pipe are reporters huffin on?

[Cindy]

http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html

#

and now back to Al Sadr...

blog:

http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/6541.htm
(”Source: Tabnak, Iran, March 30, 2008”)

“Tension Between Muqtada Al-Sadr, Iranians”

Posted at: 2008-03-31

[Da Mav]

What appears to be happening is a major effort by a number of mainstream outfits with left wing bloglings in tow to completely discredit the Maliki regime. McClatchy has been particularly egregious, with lead articles that could have been written by the Iranian press office.

Not to be lost in all this is the fact that the Iraqi government is sending its forces in to kill Shia militia, something many of the crtitics (including legitimate ones) have questioned whether Maliki had to the stones to do. How can this be anything but progress, regardless of flaws in the execution of the operation? And at least according to Roggio, the militia were taking substantial casualties.

Basra has largely been under control of the competing militias since it was turned over by the Brits in December. Yet two days into the operation, McClatchy et al. were declaring it a massive defeat based on reports that the government “only” controlled a quarter of Basra. How can retaking a quarter of a major metro area in a few days be considered a failure?

It may take several weeks to get sorted out exactly what the impact of all this is. But the offensive here in America is obviously a major push to sell it all as a defeat in time for the returning Congress to once again try to force an American surrender in Iraq.

I strongly agree with recommendations for the Long War Journal and Talisman. Also helpful on this particular issue is http://tank.nationalreview.com/

[libs_kma]

So this is why Pelosi is givng her warning to Gen. Patreus?

She wants him to report the lefty kook version of events?

[DGHoodini]

What else did anyone expect from the NYTs and the Socialist British “press” but LIES?

[Clive]

Pelosi will hear only what she wants to hear.

Iraq could be lost the same way that Viet Nam was lost, not in theatre but rather in the western media and the US Congress.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Basra is a quagmire I tell ya. /sarcasm

[maica]

We all can be grateful that the NYTimes, McClatchley, BBC and the London Times etc do not control quite ALL news outlets in 2008. They are trying to give us a 40th anniversary replay of the reporting of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam - US military success reported as defeat.

[SueRae]

Good News ping

[LibLieSlayer]

“What crack-pipe are reporters huffin on?”

The same one they always smoke from... packed with ANTI-AMERICAN herbs.

LLS

[Allegra]

Thanks for the ping.

The blatancy of the lies told by the media regarding this particular battle has exceeded the BS they've been passing off all throughout the war.

[jwparkerjr]

Pelosi needs to get a good, swift ass-kicking. It's absolutely unconscionable that she would presume to ‘warn’ an officer with the skill, experience and reputation of Patreus about anything he would say or not say to a congressional committee.

I am so tired of the daily crap we hear from her, and her counterpart in the senate, being dutifully reported by the MSM. I know opposition in the hallmark of politics, but there simply has to be a limit to how personal the opposition can be allowed to become.

She and her ilk on the Left are not qualified to even sit in the same room as a man like Patreus, let alone act like they have superiority over him in some manner.

I know I would get a reprimand from my preschool or kindergarten teacher for saying so, but I think they are stupid and I hate them and what they stand for and try to do to our country's interests!

[Clive]

Had a Republican party leader presumed to have warned a Unites States Army General about the content of his testimony before he testified, would the press have reported it with equanimity?

Or would there have been an outcry against prior restraint and an attempt to bias the testimony of a witness?

[Truth29]

"Basra is a quagmire I tell ya. /sarcasm"

The US Congress is a quagmire /not sarcasm

[SamuraiScot]

a major effort by a number of mainstream outfits with left wing bloglings in tow to completely discredit the Maliki regime.

The DemComs have one playbook: Vietnam. This is the Tet Offensive move, where, if everyone plays along and nobody snitches by telling the truth, victory can be perceived as defeat. The question now, as then, is, "Will everyone play along as instructed, or will one of you spoil the game?"

The main lesson here seems to be that British strategy in Basra, from the start, was slow surrender, which left a power vacuum for a Shiite mafia to fill. Now it has to be smashed at some expense for Iraq to develop its oil market. But I'm quite optimistic, because Petraeus's playbook works.

The Dems have been apoplectic at the success of the surge, so they're grasping at Basra-Tet as their last hope. If the war is humming along, continuing to make good progress by November, the Dems really are toast. It won't be an issue, and that means the only issue will be their Marxism.