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Iraq
Tater takes credit for UK pullout
2007-08-22
NAJAF: Radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr congratulated his supporters yesterday for the imminent withdrawal of British forces from the southern city of Basra.

The troops are due to leave their last base in Basra and move to an airbase outside the city in the coming weeks, after coming under daily mortar and rocket bombardment from local Shi'ite militias.

British commanders insist they are not being forced out and will leave the city in the hands of the Iraqi security forces but Sadr, in a statement issued by his office in Najaf, claimed the decision as a victory.

"We heard and you heard too, of the intention of British troops to withdraw from our beloved southern Iraq. Congratulations are due to us, to you and to the honest resistance," he said.

Last August, when British troops left their base in the southern town of Amara it was immediately looted by local citizens and Sadr's Mahdi Army militia held a small-scale victory parade.

Now, his Shi'ite militia fighters are among the strongest opponents of US and British forces in Iraq, and have taken the lead in the daily attacks against British bases and convoys in Basra.


Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC

#19  Last August, when British troops left their base in the southern town of Amara it was immediately looted by local citizens and Sadr's Mahdi Army militia held a small-scale victory parade.

Here's to hopin' that WE remember this event, and that some of our best and brightest snipers are on a "training exercise" in and around Basra when the Brits pull out.
Posted by: BA   2007-08-22 20:20  

#18  Well what are we waiting for then?

A decade or so from now—most likely after the needless deaths of several million Americans—that question (or a variant of it), will ring in the ears of several successive generations.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-08-22 19:17  

#17  gg, obviously I have confused you with someone else whose 'nym sounds similar.

Come on Zenster, IDF killed 500% of Hamas leadership. US Military had (approx) the same success with Al Qaeda Iraq. Its like stopping baseball in USA by killing the top league players.

A cute analogy to be sure, but let's face it, attendance at the games would drop if all players in the majors were taken out of the game. Trying to replace them with peanut league strings wouldn't create the same level of play. So it is with Islam's clerical and terrorist elite. We've mostly been taking out cannon fodder as compared to the big shots. That ratio needs to invert before reasonable progress will be obtained.

There is no such thing as a open, fair, and participative society within any territory dominated by Islam. I cannot fathom why we allowed them to craft a constitution that is openly linked to Islam, nor erect a political system that recognizes religious factions rather than political ideologies.

Absolutely spot on, Crusader. Permitting Afghanistan and Iraq to install shari'a based constitutions was a singular folly upon our part. As a military occupier, such a thing should simply have been forbidden with all proponents of such jailed or executed.

One could argue that such a measure might involve killing off a large portion of each respective society but it still remains that those same people will get even larger numbers killed by persisting with their jihadist activities. If we are going to be so idiotic as to pretend that we can save Islam from itself, then there's a huge number of people that need killing. Such pantywaist strategies as persuasion and negotiation play negligible roles in such a plan.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-08-22 19:14  

#16  Well what are we waiting for then?
Posted by: Hank   2007-08-22 18:13  

#15  Remember the final scenes of Lawrence of Arabia when the Arabs argued over the Power Company and the Water Works in Demascus.

As Lawrence said, "Arabs, silly people!"
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2007-08-22 18:04  

#14  ...or declare all Iraqis hopeless squabblers...

Islam breeds nothing BUT "hopeless squabblers". There is no such thing as a open, fair, and participative society within any territory dominated by Islam. I cannot fathom why we allowed them to craft a constitution that is openly linked to Islam, nor erect a political system that recognizes religious factions rather than political ideologies.
Posted by: Crusader   2007-08-22 17:57  

#13  "Why does that piece of shit continue to draw oxygen? Why (at the least) hasn't the acting government arrested him? . . . "

All bets are hedged.

There are ramifications from endless public policy debate over whether we stay to win or declare all Iraqis hopeless squabblers, ourselves losers, and go home. So bets will remain, to some degree hedged.
Posted by: Hank   2007-08-22 17:11  

#12  
#8. Come on Zenster, IDF killed 500% of Hamas leadership. US Military had (approx) the same success with Al Qaeda Iraq. Its like stopping baseball in USA by killing the top league players.

You live in the Middle East, if not Israel, right?
??????????????????????????????????
Posted by: gromgoru   2007-08-22 16:50  

#11  It's a good thing we didn't 86 this piece of shiat.

/sarc
Posted by: Mike N.   2007-08-22 13:26  

#10  What is the point of power if one is unwilling to use it?

It's for posturing and moral preening that is of little consequence in genuinely important affairs but of great significance to those who value style over substance.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-08-22 13:25  

#9  Why does that piece of shit continue to draw oxygen? Why (at the least) hasn't the acting government arrested him? Why does anyone pretend that anything even remotelyr resembling "peace" can be had while simultaneously allowing an armed resistance to exist within the center of the country with no consequences to those that are the public face of the resistance? Who the fuck do they think they're kidding?

It makes me absolutely sick that we were given an 8 year run at the driver's seat and did so little with it. What is the point of power if one is unwilling to use it?
Posted by: Crusader   2007-08-22 13:05  

#8  Like there wouldn't be another one in his place?

Come on, gg. You live in the Middle East, if not Israel, right?

What Wretchard says about the Palestinian leadership is eqally applicable in all high context Islamic societies:
The Israeli strike against the terrorist top tier exploits the weakness inherent in terrorist organizations which are unstable alliances based on a delicate balance of internal intimidation. None of them, the Palestinian Authority included, are either transparent or accountable. They are exceptionally vulnerable to changes in their leadership. They can stand the loss of any number of teenage fighters or youthful suicide bombers without much damage but are rocked -- as Yassin's death illustrates -- by death at the top.

These maggots make themselves irreplacable, it's how they stay in power. This is why so often the only way to remove them is by force. They wouldn't have it any other way. They create and flourish in a society that is cowed and religiously bullied (in every meaning of the phrase).

Posted by: Zenster   2007-08-22 12:22  

#7  #4 Like there wouldn't be another one in his place?
Posted by: gromgoru   2007-08-22 12:09  

#6  Naw, we're gonna win this one baby, by the grace of God interceding in our affairs and pinching our politicians heads......HARD!
Posted by: Red Dawg   2007-08-22 07:26  

#5  Hummm.. I wonder how Kuwait is feeling right about now?

IIRC it's mostly Sunni, and there's fat ole agressive Iran packed full of Assatollahs and missles and Quds [cuspidors] Forces.

Not to mention Tater and his Tots the Badr Boys just up North of them in I-raq.

Course Kuwait has us, the USA and that pre-positioned stuff which we're presently using [used up more likely] and our forward bases but maybe Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are gonna cut and run and pull us all back to Okinawa like Sen. Murtha wants?

Or hey maybe well do like the demoC*raps did in RVN in 1973-1975, bug out to the US of A.
Posted by: Red Dawg   2007-08-22 07:22  

#4  This waste of oxygen was in our gunsights in Najaf. The shot not taken has haunted us ever since.
Posted by: doc   2007-08-22 07:15  

#3  And the faster we withdraw, Harry, the more items we can contribute to their looting spree and victory party.
Posted by: Nancy Pelosi   2007-08-22 06:35  

#2  Well, they won't take credit for our redeployment.

I deserve all the credit for that.
Posted by: Harry Reid   2007-08-22 06:34  

#1  Sadr needs to take "credit" for a .50 caliber round in his turban.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-08-22 06:15  

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