Monday, March 24, 2008

Is 'success' of U.S. surge in Iraq about to unravel?

In McClatchy's, here and the BBC has this story, here
"..The freeze on offensive activity by Sadr's Mahdi Army has been a major factor behind the recent drop in violence in Iraq, and there were fears that the confrontation that's erupted in Baghdad and Basra could end the lull ..."

(Muqtada & Mottaki)

1 comment:

mo said...

It looks like the final play. Al Qiada in Iraq has been virtually wiped out, not difficult once the Sunni population turned against them. Now remove Sadr and you remove the last remaining big obatacle to complete hegemony over the country by....?

How this battle pans out will determine the future of Iraq in my opinion. Sadr has mainly kept out of the game for now. Now he is being forced into it. The Iraqi "government" and the US are calling him out. Is the Mahdi army all it is supposed to be? I doubt they are anything like Hizballah but unlike Hizballah they have the numbers to make this a long and costly battle.

Nasrallah will be watching with interest. If the US and the Siniora govt. ever manage to gerrymander and army and ISF that will do its bidding then this could be Lebanons future.