Reconciliation In Iraq "Isn't Happening"

In Advance of Gen. Petraeus' Report To Congress This Week, Reporters Discuss What Recent Violence In Iraq Means

(CBS/AP)  Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces battled Shiite fighters in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood in clashes that killed 22 people and wounded more than 50, despite a cease-fire between the government and the militia, officials said Sunday.

The fighting was a sign of how brutal the past few weeks have been for General David Petraeus, reports CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan, because she said, "he really was looking at a year where he had imagined to be quite successful in reducing violence, particularly in Baghdad and some of the surrounding areas."

Speaking with Bob Schieffer on Face The Nation, Logan said that the gains made by agreements with militias (including from Sunni tribes and some Shiite tribes) to work with the Americans have almost disappeared in the face of the recent violence which spreads so quickly from Basra in the south of Iraq.

"It's really about two things," Logan said. "It's a fight amongst the Shiites for power in Iraq - what the future of this country is going to look like, how the Shiites will divide Iraq among themselves - but perhaps even more importantly it's a fight between the U.S. (who backs the Iraqi government and Iraqi security forces) and Iran (who backs those militias).

"This is really the proxy war that everybody talks about behind closed doors but nobody wants to admit to in public."

She noted that many of the rockets and mortars fired against Baghdad's Green Zone were launched from Sadr City, the base of militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia was engaged in fierce fighting with Iraqi forces in Basra.

"General Petraeus really has a very difficult issue on his hands because Sadr City is home to the Mahdi Army and militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, one of the most powerful and popular in the country. It's densely populated.

For the U.S., They are on the outskirts of Sadr City but for them to move deep into this area, they risk a potential bloodbath. Nobody wants to see that happening.

The U.S. has been looking for a political solution to that, trying to bring Moqtada al-Sadr on board. They've been successful to a degree but what has been seen in the last few weeks - and there were 20 people reportedly killed overnight in clashes between U.S. forces and the militia inside Sadr City - what you've seen is a very determined defense by these militias not wanting to give up the rocket launch sites, or any ground.

"In the words of the American commander who is in charge of Sadr City, he said this fight began as a fight for these launch sites. Now it's all about killing Americans."

Schieffer asked, with the attention given to fights with militias, "Whatever happened to al Qaeda, the terrorists?"

According to Logan, "The U.S. is very careful to say that al Qaeda has been defeated but they are not gone, not by any stretch of the imagination. They know that al Qaeda is there. They're waiting for their opportunity to come back. They took advantage of the violence and the fighting amongst the Shiites. That's exactly what they'll do: Be looking for opportunities like that to turn around the security gains that General Petraeus was able to make."

While Logan said that al Qaeda was significantly hurt by the agreement made with the tribes - with the additional American "surge" troops brought into the country to try to force the Iraqi government to accept reconciliation measures within that nation's government - al Qaeda has moved north towards the city to Mosul. "It's very much now an Iraqi organization, predominantly."

In anticipation of the progress report to be delivered to the House and Senate this week by General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, national editor of the Washington Post, said the recent violence in Basra poses a tremendous challenge for the administration.

"In many ways, the violence in Basra is the most perhaps honest assessment of where things stand in Iraq today, where things stand in terms of the status of Iraqi security forces," Chandrasekaran told Schieffer. "There are very credible reports that more than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers defected rather than fighting against fellow Shiites in the south. It raises real questions about the progress we're making in training and equipping Iraqi security forces."

Also brought into question is the role of Iran, which it was reported helped broker the crease-fire in Basra through the intervention of a senior Iranian military commander. "Of course, it shows the ascendant role of Iran," he said.

Chandrasekaran also said the Basra violence shows the degree to which political reconciliation - a key benchmark that the United States is looking for in Iraq - "simply isn't happening.

"It's not just Sunni-Shiite lack of reconciliation, but it's intra-Shiite fighting," he said.

Chandrasekaran said Maliki moved is worried about Shiite political parties' fate in upcoming provincial elections, and so made the military moves in Basra in order to try to marginalize and contain Sadr. "All of this has to be looked at through the lens of domestic politics in Iraq," he said, "but what it says to us here in Washington is that efforts at reconciliation are not going as well as the Bush administration would like us to believe."

Nancy Youssef, chief Pentagon correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers, said the United States is in a precarious position with Maliki: "The U.S. military officials that I've talked to say that they were working with Nouri al-Maliki to craft a long-term, thoughtful plan" to deal with the security issues in Basra. It appears that what the U.S. didn't want was what happened, which was a very sudden, ill-planned attack that potentially put the gains of the surge in jeopardy.

"In this case, the U.S. says that it wasn't informed about what the plan was, and then had to rush and get air combat support in place when the Iraqi security forces couldn't handle the fighting."

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Read the full "Face the Nation" transcript here.

[newsterl]

YEah just what we would have needed, another moron to start WW lll over there.
Posted by newsterl

"Thats what Ahmadenijad wants to do you moron. Not the USA.

Posted by liberalbias1"

List azzhoel, read my beak: your PAL bush is doing all he can to MAKE WW3 happen and fulfill his buybull version of armagheddon, so he is threatening every country he can, and is on the border of restarting the COLD WAR with Russia over all this krap.

Ahmadenijad like Bin Laden is a BLOW HARD has-been who never was, no one but a moron takes anything either says seriously, they SAY all the krap they do about wiping israel off the map etc specifically because they enjoy YANKING our chain and watching us react, and react we do every time like the dumb suckers we are.

They are no different than school punks who call others names- buck teeth, f@g, retarded etc they do it because they KNOW they will get a reaction, and when their target reacts they give them EXACTLY what they wanted- thereby falling for their GAME.

You have the world media stopping in mid track to announce the LATEST krap from laden or Ahmadenijad, they know all they have to do is put out some bullchit speech on a $2 tape and the WORLD stops to listen, they have you seheepl wrapped around their little fingers and you fall for their game every time LOL

[labrat9999]

Boy this is going very well. I wonder why the Bush administration doesn''t want Admiral Fallen to report to the congress? Guess he wants to keep putting a good spin on a bad thing.

[newsterl]

SOMEONE WHO WOULD HAQVE PUT THE IRANIAN NEO-NAZIS IN THEIR PLACE

Posted by dumbshun

YEah just what we would have needed, another moron to start WW lll over there.

[temdem]

SCHIEFFER: Well, it seems to me that this is going beyond the reasons that America went to Iraq, and that was to provide, you know, establish some sort of a stable democracy in this part of the world, to help the Iraqis put down these terrorists, who are a threat to the United States.

Now if Mr. Schieffer really believes that "America went to Iraq, and that was to provide, you know, "establish some sort of a stable democracy", rather than trying to grab the oil, I think he is more uniformed than an average "Fair and Balanced" Fox News Channel crowd.

[joebhed]

First, both Sunni and Shia "insurgents" have one goal, to end the illegal occupation of their country after the illegal invasion of their country.
If anyone seriously thinks there will ever be peace without an American withdrawal, well then they just cannot come to grips with what Americans would do IF our country was illegally invaded and occupied.
It''s as simple as that.
The real insurgents are the national guard.
Peace.

[ioweign]

This was reported in 2002.
America''''''''s war on terrorism did not begin in September 2001. It began in November 1979.

That was shortly after Ayatollah Khomeini had seized power in Iran, riding the slogan "Death to America%u2026..
Posted by Gaye5 at 07:11 PM : Apr 06, 2008

WISH WE HAD A DIFFERENT PRESIDENT THAN NOBLE-LAUREAT CARTER%u2026%u2026..

SOMEONE WHO WOULD HAQVE PUT THE IRANIAN NEO-NAZIS IN THEIR PLACE

Posted by dumbshun at 06:48 AM : Apr 07, 2008

Gaye5 - Who put in and propped up the dictator Shah of Iran?

[feelfree1]

dumbshun,

You appear to be swinging blindly in all directions.

Would it be fair to assume that this resembles what your plan for "victory" might look like?

Would you like the "job"?

[feelfree1]

dumbshun,

It looks like you are on the verge of blowing a gasket.

Take a couple of deep breaths...

There...isn''t that a little better?

[feelfree1]

Re: "WITH-WHO KNOWS-LOTS OF %u201CSLEEPER JIHADI-CELLS%u201D?

Posted by dumbshun

There''s one right behind you!!!

Boo!!!

Watch your head!!!

[feelfree1]

Re: "HOW CAN A MINORITY WHO USED TO DOMINATE THE MAJORITY NOW LIVE UNDER A %u201CVENGEFUL MAJORITY%u201D?

This is a good point.

I don''t know that there was anything wrong with their old Constitution.

[feelfree1]

dumbshun,

Re: "CREATE MARTIAL LAW, SWEEP THE COUNTRY, SMASH MEHDI ARMY, THE INSURGENTS AND THEIR FELLOW EVIL-DOERS FIRST."

This has been tried and has failed countless times now.

Re: "THEN HELP ALL IRAQIS DECIDE WHAT THEY WANT,"

It sounds like they have already received about as much U.S. "help" as they can withstand.

Re: "SCRAP THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION, LET THEM DRAFT THEIR OWN VERSION"

That is a pretty good idea.

Re: "GET UN INVOLVED-UNDER OUR SUPERVISION"

Im not sure why they would want to do that, and where the U.N. troops would come from at this point.

Re: "AND THEN, AND THEN ONLY MAKE AN EXIT!"

Or we could just declare victory, apologize, and begin repaying the people of Iraq for some of the misery that we have delivered to them.

[feelfree1]

dumbshun,

Re: "I ONLY WISH HE HADN''T!"

It looks like we cannot even defend the Green Zone, for crying out loud.

I think that you are overestimating our capabilities.

[feelfree1]

Once again, as a recap-

Re: "Reconciliation In Iraq "Isn''t Happening"

How can there be any reconciliation in Iraq, as long as a criminal and brutal invasion of their country continues, and as long as the illegitimate stooges installed by the invaders remain in power?

It is painfully clear that the Iraqi "government" officials are neither legitimate nor sovereign.

Re: "Whatever happened to al Qaeda, the terrorists?"

Obviously, the "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq" boogie-men are little more than a Made-in-USA psy-ops ruse, aimed at providing an excuse to remain in Iraq, where none exists.

The fictional "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq" hoax will continue to be "defeated" and revived, appear and vanish, as it suits the immediate interests of the Bush regime.

[feelfree1]

dumbshun,

What purpose do you hope to serve by screaming and attacking everyone here?

[feelfree1]

Re: "WELL SAID!%u2026%u2026.BUT THEN PERHAPS HE IS BEING PAID BY FELLOW JIHADIS TO HELP SPLIT US!"

Posted by dumbshun

The other night when I complimented your position on torture, we were Americans discussing tough issues.

Now, suddenly, you''ve got me pegged as a "jihadi" once again.

How can my status change so rapidly, in your view?

[feelfree1]

Re: "** CHENEY SHOULD HAVE STAYED THERE TILL MUKTDA-AL-SADR & HIS MEHDI ARMY HAD SURRENDERED, OR BEEN CRUSHED TO SMITHEREANS"

Posted by dumbshun

Cosidering that al-Sadr was/is clearly winning, how do you figure that this might have been a possibility?

[feelfree1]

dumbshun,

No magnitude of Bush bulge is going to make anything any better for anyone, other than for war profiteers and pirates.

The people of Iraq are definitely NOT my enemy.

We owe them a sincere apology and a tremendous debt.

[newsterl]

You see they just can''''t admit that they were wrong. That they were conned by the Bush administration.

Many people were taken in by the Bush/Cheney lies and it hurts to admit it. That said the alternative is much worse. More of our troops dying for lies. Still there will always be a few who will never admit that they were just plain had.

Posted by SgtRDS

I fully agree and never doubted this was the case, there were TOO many shady happenings around 9/11 for it to be the way the bush regime CLAIMED it went down.
WHERE did all the tapes from the highway TRAFFIC cams near the pentagon GO and why havent we seen them? answer: because they show what REALLY hit the pentagon.

Why was Bush''s other BROTHER just coincidently in charge of security of the WTC on 9/11?
How come tenants of the towers had reported weird power outages, the security cams going out and the bomb sniffing dogs removed just before 9/11?
9/11 was the modern Tonkin Bay incident with a new twist.

[hwy1702]

j-whitman%u2026 I apologize for thanking you. If it were everyone%u2019s duty to serve we would still have a draft. Also, this is not a war on terror it is a religious war and the opponents use terror as a tactic.


hwy1702,,,, Don''''t thank me for serving, it''''s everyone''''s duty ---- And don''''t attack us for wanting to win a War on Terror rather than wanting more failures & lies.

One more thing, yes this is a great country, but - conservatives have taken it into the wrong direction & have stopped trying to make it greater.
by j-whitman

[hwy1702]

I live in San Diego. I will gladly kick your dumb as_s back to LA if you can make it down here. Bring Rebelscout with. Taking care of two pukes at one time will certainly feed my ego. I would call you a coward but that would be a step up for you.


Yeah yeah yeah phony. Go look up the names and units of people who really did serve in Nam. You''''re a fake and anytime you want to come out to LA to disagree I''''ll be happy to accommodate your lying as*s. Coward.
SgtRDS