"Moktada is like Milosevic....He'll do anything to stay in power."
This is the muddled thinking that the Great Power brings to the ongoing war. It is a good example of "easy" thinking: meaning, stupid and facile. But the Great Power respects nothing, except its own power, and is continually scouring the hostile land looking for someone to demonize, whether it is a Castro, Ortega, or Chavez, or, yes, Milosevic; but not a Rios Mont, D'Aubisson, Izetbegovic, Tudjman, or Sharon. The Colonel draws on an easy hypocrisy.
You're reinforcing my point. I just went back a few more years (of course, to bring the US into the "equation").
In short, geographic location doesn't matter. Whether it be East Timor, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Rawanda, Iraq, El Salvador, BiH, Liberia....etc...it's all War defined in terms of the stake holders' concerns (however they define to be).