Posted on 04/25/2008 8:40:20 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
When the Sadr-Maliki story first broke during the initial push into Basra I noted something was distinctly missing from the news about Maliki’s failed efforts and Sadr’s grand victory - there was no dancing in the streets in response to the news stories? There were no cheers for Sadr, no celebrations by the Iraqi people. If this was the Muslim Street rising up to throw off the occupiers from the West - where were the throngs of people taking to the streets?
It struck me as very odd that the only spontaneous cheer to rise up from the initial operations in Basra was from the newsrooms of the SurrenderMedia! Not even the Surrendercrats in Congress preparing the testimonies of Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus showed much interest in the so-called ‘failure’ in Basra. That is probably because they knew what was happening from their briefings on military actions from the Pentagon that they get regularly, and they knew better than to get too excited - this was possibly not the second coming of Vietnam the far left has been praying would arrive since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Whatever the case for their reserved positions, the fact is today we do finally see a spontaneous and celebratory response in the Muslim street - and it is not because Mookie Sadr is taking on the occupiers from the West. It is because the Iraqis have liberated Basra and the people are free to express themselves. And what they are expressing is a lot of defiance to Sadr and his Madi Militia of Islamo Fascist thugs:
Young women are daring to wear jeans, soldiers listen to pop music on their mobile phones and bands are performing at wedding parties again.
All across Iraq’s second city life is improving, a month after Iraqi troops began a surprise crackdown on the black-clad gangs who were allowed to flourish under the British military. The gunmen’s reign had enforced a strict set of religious codes.
Yet after three years of being terrified of kidnap, rape and murder – a fate that befell scores of other women – Nadyia Ahmed, 22, is among those enjoying a sense of normality, happy for the first time to attend her science course at Basra University. “I now have the university life that I heard of at high school before the war and always dreamt about,” she told The Times. “It was a nightmare because of these militiamen. I only attended class three days a week but now I look forward to going every day.”
…
“All these men in black [who imposed the laws] just vanished from the university after this operation,” said Ms Ahmed. “Things have completely changed over the past week.”
In a sign of the good mood, celebratory gunfire erupted around Basra two nights ago and text messages were pinged from one mobile phone to another after an alleged senior militia leader was arrested.
There are smiles and celebrations all around Basra now. The news media can try and manufacture false impressions, but the people reflect the real deal and they are happy to be rid of the extremists. This is not surprising since there have been other signs Sadr does not have the following too many thought he had. Recently he was not even able to pull off a large protest as a show of strength against Maliki’s actions for the news media - it had to be cancelled before it exposed his weak following.
The news media’s spontaneous cheering from the first false impressions at Basra are also quite telling. It seems they have wanted something to go seriously badly for so long in Iraq that they have allowed themselves to treat an unstable and waffling young radical cleric with a lot more seriousness than he ever deserved. Just yesterday the SurrenderMedia trumpeted the news Sadr was about to throw his pursuit of political power to the wind and lead a Shiite uprising that would carve off the southern half of Iraq as the new part of Iran. It was like a liberal dream come true!
But it was just a dream, probably spun from Sadr or some liberal ’sources’ in western governments. Today we wake up to the news Sadr has wilted again and decided that the current ‘cease fire’ still stands:
All across Iraq’s second city life is improving, a month after Iraqi troops began a surprise crackdown on the black-clad gangs who were allowed to flourish under the British military.
Most definitely not the finest hour of our British allies...
oops, here we go again...
Placemark
Sadr calls for freeze in fighting; US, Iraqi forces kill 14 Mahdi fighters in Baghdad
***************************EXCERPT INTRO**********************
Less than one week after threatening to conduct an uprising against the Iraqi government and US forces, Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army, has called for his fighters to maintain the self-imposed cease-fire. The US and Iraqi military continue to strike at Sadr’s Mahdi Army in Baghdad. Ten “criminals” were killed in strikes in Sadr City, making 82 Mahdi fighters killed in the six days since Sadr threatened renewed violence.
In a statement read during the Friday prayers at the Al Hikma mosque in Sadr City, Sadr called for his militia to halt the fighting. “You have been patiently committed to the freeze decision and magnificently obeyed your leader,” Sadr statement read, according to Voices of Iraq. “I hope you retain your patience and faith.”
Sadr also said he did not threaten the Iraqi government with “open war” last weekend, but was directing his threat against Coalition forces. “The open war we threaten is meant against the occupiers,” Sadr said. “There is no war between us and our Iraqi brothers regardless of their sect or ethnicity.”
But Sadr then seemingly contradicted himself when he demanded the government “rein in the militias infiltrated” into the security forces. “I give the Iraqi government the last warning that we would wage an open war until liberation if it failed to rein in the militias infiltrated into it,” Sadr said.
Women across the globe should be the strongest supporters of our war against these fanatics because they would be the biggest losers if the fanatics had their way...a la Basra, Afghanistan under the Taliban, etc...
WAKE UP WOMEN OF THE WORLD ! ! ! !
There were no cheers for Sadr, no celebrations by the Iraqi people... It struck me as very odd that the only spontaneous cheer to rise up from the initial operations in Basra was from the newsrooms of the SurrenderMedia... this was possibly not the second coming of Vietnam the far left has been praying would arrive since the invasion of Iraq in 2003... we do finally see a spontaneous and celebratory response in the Muslim street... because the Iraqis have liberated Basra and the people are free to express themselves. And what they are expressing is a lot of defiance to Sadr and his Madi Militia of Islamo Fascist thugs... There are smiles and celebrations all around Basra now. The news media can try and manufacture false impressions, but the people reflect the real deal and they are happy to be rid of the extremists... The news media's spontaneous cheering from the first false impressions at Basra are also quite telling. It seems they have wanted something to go seriously badly for so long in Iraq that they... trumpeted the news Sadr was about to throw his pursuit of political power to the wind and lead a Shiite uprising that would carve off the southern half of Iraq as the new part of Iran. It was like a liberal dream come true![singing] Mook, Mook, Mookie, goodbye, Mook, Mook, Mookie, please die...
Thanks for all the pings and following teh events in Iraq.
We`re docked in Punteràna, Costa Rice today and I found a cool internet cafe for super cheap. :-)
Man...what a life...I got to get me a map...Costa Rico is way down there.
Great news and thanks for the pings.
“Most definitely not the finest hour of our British allies...”
How so? British and American (who moved down with the Iraqi units they were embedded with) forces mentored the Iraqi forces who took control of the city with minimal loss of life (only 10 Iraqi soldiers thankfully). The operation was so cost-less in terms of Iraqi casualties precisely because the operation had an Iraqi face. When British forces moved to Basra airbase because they said that 90% of the violence is aimed at us, we’re making things worse and this requires an Iraqi face to solve, people here said the British were running away. The British line has proved absolutely correct. Rather than having a situation where, like last Spring, 24 British soldiers at a police station were attacked by over 200 militiamen, now, Iraqi troops can control the city (after initial resistance) quite happily. Rather than militiamen being ‘allowed to flourish’ under the small British contigent’s watch, the presence of foreign troops in a region famous for stident autonomy was a catalyst for militia violence. This required one of two responses: a massive British surge to literally dominate the ground (like that elsewhere in Iraq) or a shift to Iraqi-led operations. The first opinion was simply not a logistical option for the British military (and the UK’s dithering lame-duck Prime Minsiter doesn’t have the decision making skills required! He’s 18 points behind in the polls!)
The UK has announced in the last few days that its 4000 troops will be staying in Iraq for the forseeable future. The UK not only has troops in Basra, but also embedded units with Iraqi troops in Baghdad and Special Forces all over the country. This is a big commitment for an overstretched army like the UKs (whose main foreign focus is on Afghanistan)
Steel Resolve: The above is my opinion and I absolutely respect your right to disagree. I fully respect your opinion and appreciate that, unlike certain other posters, it is generated not through anti-British bias but a genuine informed perspective.
Cheers
UK
had to save a lot of pennies to do this trip but it has been great so far.. the canal was interesting as well..
Of course, the main point of the article is that the news media have been lying to us, as per usual, but it’s getting so old no one but the moonbats were prepared to believe it.
But there is a significant subsidiary point: “All across Iraq’s second city life is improving, a month after Iraqi troops began a surprise crackdown on the black-clad gangs who were allowed to flourish under the British military.”
There have been a couple of stories indicating this, although the news has been pretty well buried. The British have stayed in Iraq, but basically they pulled back and did zero. They had a working arrangement with the fanatics that if they were not attacked, or not too much attacked, they would let them do as they liked. So Basra, a key city, was basically held by the enemy.
It started under Tony Blair, and probably has gotten worse under Brown. Can’t blame them, in a way, but it might have been better if they had quit the pretence and just pulled out.
Sorry, I posted my comment before reading yours, so I didn’t respond to it. Someone phoned me while I was composing it.
I have English connections, and love the country, but have not been happy with the current government or with Tony Blair, for that matter. He did go into Iraq, and we owe him a lot for that, but he was dreadful in his internal policies, and he grew less & less supportive in Iraq, frankly, but without provoking an open break in the alliance.
From the little I’ve read about the ground situation in Basra, it looks as if the Brits put on their velvet gloves too soon (of course, you could say that about the entire operation in Iraq). But I’ll defer to more knowledgeable heads on that; I was responding specifically to the quoted remark from the article...
Was just looking at this.,...FR thread...remebering why we are in Iraq:
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT ADMITS -- SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS DEVELOPING NUCLEAR BOMB
********************EXCERPT INTRO*******************
The Prime Minister of Niger reported to the U.S. State Department in early 2002 that Iraq tried to buy uranium "yellow cake" (ore) -- a June 2003 Memo reveals.
A declassified court exhibit introduced in the 2007 trial of Scooter Libbey proved that Saddam Hussein tried to get uranium ore from Niger -- covertly and under the table.
This is clear evidence that Saddam Hussein was actively developing nuclear weapons. Iraq already had stockpiles of uranium "yellow cake" that it was not using -- but that uranium was being watched by UN inspectors. Iraq could have no reason for wanting to buy more uranium, quietly and under the table, except to circumvent UN inspectors.
Iraq was in fact working on devloping a nuclear bomb. The United States government had sound reason to believe that Saddam Hussein was developing and working to build nuclear bombs.
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