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IRAQ: The Mahdi Army Is Losing Its Luster
Weekly Standard ^ | May 27, 2008 07:20 PM | Bill Roggio

Posted on 05/28/2008 1:41:08 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

A common narrative about the war in Iraq is that fighting against the enemy in urban environments creates more insurgents, thus it is fruitless to even try. But today's Los Angeles Times finally asked Iraqis in Sadr City what they think about the recent fighting and how it impacts their views of the Mahdi Army. The answer: The Mahdi Army has lost significant support from not only residents caught in the crossfire, but from Mahdi Army fighters themselves.

In fact, some Mahdi Army fighters were so discouraged by the recent fighting that they vowed to never join the ranks again. "I had faith. I believed in something," a former Mahdi Army fighter told the LA Times. "Now, I will never fight with them."

"People are fed up with them [the Mahdi Army] because of their extremism and the problems they are causing," a merchant in central Baghdad said.

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: basra; iraq; mahdiarmy; sadr; sadrcity

1 posted on 05/28/2008 1:41:08 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: All
LA Times article...FR Thread:

Iraqis losing patience with militiamen ( Sadr's Mahdi Army militia has provided services but...)

2 posted on 05/28/2008 1:43:36 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (No Burkas for my Grandaughters!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
None of this is to be believed until the bodies of Mookie Al-Sadr and the rest of this group of thugs are hanging from ropes in Baghdad.

I'm personally getting sick of this whole "on the ropes," "last throws," "almost done" themed reporting that is supposed to be convincing the US that we are winning in Iraq. There will be no victory, much less any peace, until all of these people are dead.

3 posted on 05/28/2008 1:44:02 PM PDT by pnh102 (Save America - Ban Ethanol Now!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Long gone are the glory days when they liberated Auschwitz.


4 posted on 05/28/2008 1:45:20 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Yep, no doubt about it, we are loosing this war....(</sarc off>)


5 posted on 05/28/2008 1:45:56 PM PDT by dirtbiker (I 'm a liberal's worst nightmare:A redneck with a pickup, a library card, and a conceal carry permit)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

bump


6 posted on 05/28/2008 1:48:29 PM PDT by Skooz (Any nation that would elect Hillary Clinton as its president has forfeited its right to exist.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Thank goodness these Iraqis are seeing what we have seen all along.

The Islamic suicide radicals are insane, cannot govern, and hold no future for any peoples.


7 posted on 05/28/2008 1:49:30 PM PDT by roses of sharon ( (Who will be McCain's maverick?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Mookie Al-Sadr says the Americans promised him a McDonalds in Sadr City if he just cooled it.


8 posted on 05/28/2008 2:09:29 PM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: roses of sharon
Thank goodness these Iraqis are seeing what we have seen all along.

The Islamic suicide radicals are insane, cannot govern, and hold no future for any peoples.

Now if we can only convince the Democrats and their liberal media cheerleaders.

After we got Saddam and the Iraqis executed him there was no bad guy. They started to believe our liberal media stories that we were worse than Saddam. By blowing Abu Ghraib and Hadditha way out of proportion to what they actually were, the media became the greatest asset to the radicals. They used it to rally the people against the troops and the Iraqi government.

It took several years and many lives to turn that around but they finally have a bad guy that the Iraqi people blame for the problems that the radicals are causing.

9 posted on 05/28/2008 2:15:01 PM PDT by eggman (Democrat party - The black hole of liberalism from which no rational thought can escape.)
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From the Blogospahere(Strata Sphere):

More Success Stories On The War On Terror

10 posted on 05/28/2008 2:24:32 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (No Burkas for my Grandaughters!)
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To: TexasCajun

One Mickey D’s isn’t gonna be enough for that pile of goo.


11 posted on 05/28/2008 3:26:28 PM PDT by Uncle Ivan (Thompson Conservative)
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