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| Iraq |
| Big military push coming in Baghdad; media readying defeatist narrative |
| 2008-05-08 |
| Ed Morissey, "Hot Air" blog Iraqi soldiers have begun evacuating families from portions of Sadr City, a sign that a large offensive will start shortly against the Mahdi Army militia that have long controlled the sector of Baghdad. Two stadiums have been secured for sheltering the evacuees as the government of Nouri al-Maliki attempts to break Moqtada al-Sadr’s last stronghold and end mortar attacks on the Green Zone. . . . This will likely take weeks to complete. Once the battle starts, expect to read and hear plenty of media reports emphasizing civilian deaths, setbacks in the battle, defections in the Iraqi Army, and statements of defiance from Sadr. What we won’t hear is progress by Maliki and the US in finishing off Sadr’s forces until it suddenly becomes impossible to ignore it — and then we will hear about how inept the Iraqi forces were in achieving victory. Call it the Basra Narrative. Just because it failed in Basra doesn’t mean the defeatist media won’t use it again, and again, and again. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #2 Planned to correspond to with what's going on in Lebanon? Probably not. Using what is happening to your advantage. No doubt. |
| Posted by: tipover 2008-05-08 12:50 |
| #1 This all might be timed to correspond with what is going on in Lebanon. Chances are the Iranians are not going to be able the potential loss of their operations in both Iraq and Lebanon at the same time. Taking on the JAM at the same time that Hezbollah is starting things in Lebanon might be a good move on our part. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2008-05-08 12:23 |