[maine-iac7]

Here’s a video of the Iraqi Army “rocking the neighborhood’ in Sadr City - The Iraqi Army is conducting this operation with our troops as backup...We done trained ‘em good!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3tMDhVu-f2Q

[mickey finn]

No more cease fires! Pound them until they are done.

The press is spinning this into a loss for the our side because the job was not finished when Mooki called a cease fire.

[fight_truth_decay]

Wondered about this sudden turn of events with the cease fire recognized by al Sadr, plus his recent claim to being going back to his "education", under guidance from his father; plus his earlier statements on the success of the coalition troops over his gang (militia)in their separation suggestion of inevitable defeat. Plus, his recent loss of followers(with families) once they grew tired of the fighting and recognized life changes for the better in Iraq(lost in the mainstream media, however). So found this which might help explain:

Retired Major William "Mac" McCallister spent more than four years in Iraq, much of it as an advisor to the Marines on Iraq's tribes and culture. Here's how Mac sees the recent Maliki-Sadr clash:

1. Fighting is a form of negotiation to gain an advantage and not necessarily to gain control of a given situation. Maliki government perceives an opportunity to gain advantage due to weakening of Organization of Martyr Sadr (OMS).

2. On the other hand do not discount the likelihood that IA [Iraqi Army] are targeting rogue JAM [Jaysh al-Mahdi, Sadr's militia] units that failed to rally to Sadr in the last 6 months. A number of reports implied that one to the reasons Muqtada al Sadr initiated the cease fire was to verify loyalty of JAM militias to OMS. Those that did not respond may well be the "target audience". If this is the case then I am inclined to believe that Maliki and Muqtada al Sadr are in communication to "manage the violence".

3. The timing for this punitive expedition is about right. The "awakening" meme [tribal resistance to extremist, which began in Iraq's west] has infected Arab tribes in the south. Arab tribes that happen to Shia. Many southern tribal leaders have openly expressed their "disappointment" with OMS and rogue militias for a while now, due to their inability to "fix" economic and security conditions. The tribes are a powerful lobbying group, especially in the south since most are engaged in agriculture. Agriculture translates into "power" since you have to feed the cities.

Conclusion. This is a punitive expedition only. The short-term objective is to assist Sadr in ridding himself of rogue elements so as to make him a more stable long-term political partner and more reliable participant in governance. The Maliki government, although it seeks to consolidate its hold on power knows it can not do so without the help of Sadr. The intermediate objective is to maintain Sadr as a viable and potential political ally for he is needed against the numerous groups also seeking greater influence such as Fadilah, Hakim family, Sunni tribes and the Kurds. The long-term objective will be determined as this thing plays itself out.-- Source

There are those, however; that would want to see a failure in what could be considered a very powerful truce and another success in Iraq.

[purpleraine]

We always give in to the cease fire rather than finishing the job. The first time they had this guy surrounded we gave him millions to surrender and rebuild the mosque and surrounding buildings. How many times will we be fooled?

[Road Warrior ‘04]

Lay waste to whole friggin’ area around and near the Sadr City neighborhood!!!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Round II perhaps?

[maine-iac7]

Here’s a couple good links

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/magazine/24afghanistan-t.html?

Scroll down to watch the videos

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/11/ambush-video-sh.html

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/01/afghanistan200801

http://soldiersangelsgermany.blogspot.com/2007/12/sky-soldiers-of-korengal.html

[G Larry]

Is there some idiot in the State Dept. still insisting that we should NOT kill Sadr, because he needs to represent “his people”?
(”Well ya know, we don’t want to be accused of installing a puppet government”.......vomit!)

[cookcounty]

Lets see, Petraus is testifying before the Senate on the 8th and 9th. Look for a big attack from the Sadrists on April 7 or 8, so they can prop up and embolden their allies Biden, Kerry, et. al as they strive to hand over Iraq to the jihadists.