Al Sadr's Fight Threatens Iraq Stability

(CBS)  The U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, will give Congress an update on the war Tuesday. Ten American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the last two days, and the latest violence threatens to destabilize the country even more.

There is no sign in Baghdad of a let-up in fighting between U.S. troops and Iranian-backed Shiite militants.

The militia stronghold of Sadr City, home to Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, was burning again Monday, spreading fear and threatening the stability of Iraq's capital, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports.

And in the southern city of Basra, the conflict that sparked the fighting in Baghdad also continued.

But even as the wounded still poured into hospitals in Sadr City and the number of dead kept rising, it was the political fight that took center stage: Iraq's Prime Minister threatening to bar Sadr's party from local elections if the powerful cleric refuses to disband his Mahdi Army militia.

When Prime Minsier Nouri al Maliki announced he was going after the Mahdi Army and other militias in Basra, he was praised by the U.S. president.

"I would say this is a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq," President Bush said. "The decision to move Iraqi troops into Basra talks about Prime Minister Maliki's leadership."

Some two weeks later, the militias are emboldened and Maliki's leadership is in question.

The Mahdi Army remains entrenched in Basra, and on the streets of Sadr City the prime minister has never been more unpopular.

"Maliki your punishment will be in hell," one sign reads.

He's widely seen as the loser in this fight against Sadr's followers, or "Sadrists" as they are called.

"Maliki came to Basra to fulfill an agenda against the Sadrists and what makes us sure about this agenda is when President Bush has announced that al Maliki is going through a very critical examination in Basra, so it was sure for us that al Maliki came to Basra in order to pass the American examination," said al-Sadr spokesman Sheikh Salah al Obeidi.

Monday night the Sadr spokesman blamed the U.S. for escalating the fighting in Sadr City and refused to condemn rocket attacks against the Green Zone.

Maliki's failure and the rise in violence come at a critical moment for U.S. policy makers.

Until two weeks ago, America's top commander in Iraq, Petraeus looked like he was heading to Washington with a success story. Now it's a very different picture.

MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved

[dwilber971]

The coalition forces are trying to force the militias to submit. What do the militias value that could be used as leverage to get them to give up? Their ideology says they have to fight and kill the infidels or die in the struggle. It seems to me it would help if we took the fight away from them. We''re giving them a purpose for living and dying. How is GDP going to get the insurgents to give in? What is his plan? It seems to me the kind of force we are using is not sufficient to get them to capitulate. Shooting at them and searching their houses just makes them madder. If our security gains are just fragile we should take that as a failure, not as a reason to keep trying. There''s no guarantee we will solidify our gains if we keep at it. It''s like we''re in a rubber dinghy that leaks and we just keep trying to blow air into it.

[ioweign]

Folks who make counters need to put reference posts or they are ignored.......

Posted by donbl1 at 08:08 PM : Apr 07, 2008

As in ZERO (0) WMDs prior to the invasion...

As in ZERO (0) al-Quaeda prior to the invasion...

[ranger1948]

emma253
Nice sentiments, but the Muslim terrorists have sworn to kill everyone who does not think like them and accept their bel;iefs without exception. The rest of the world we can live in peace qwith. The terrorist trash we have to exterminate. They give us no choice.

[feelfree1]

Third choice then maybe, Brian?

Let''s not forget about CIA stooge Iyad Allawi.

He certainly did his part in escalating the death and misery. He was given the gong be the people of Iraq, loud and clear.

I don''t know if you recall this one, but there was actually a report a year or two ago by a CBS "journalist", suggesting that the Iraqi people were longing for Allawi''s return, of all things.

Shameless that this supposed journalist would be boosting this twisted stooge.

[brianbwb-2009]

"If anyone is an Iranian stooge here, it is Maliki. So he is a dual-stooge." Posted by FeelFree1

Let''s go for the hat-trick. Maliki was installed as the US puppet, because Bush''s first choice, Chalabi was shown to be a con man, a thief, and has criminal charges against hum in Iraq.

Not that any of that mattered to Bush, mind you, but since the facts were made public before Chalabi could be put in place, Bush was forced to go with his second choice.

[feelfree1]

emma253,

Interracial eh?

To bad you don''t have a hermaphroditic prostitution service instead, coz'' then you could all go *** yourselves!

[feelfree1]

Related and funny-

Christian Zionist nutters wearing out welcome even in Israel:

"Televangelist John Hagee sounded a bit irate when he read his response to the accusations leveled at him and the organization he founded, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), by Rabbi Eric Yoffie, head of the Union for Reform Judaism."

"Hagee, who is currently in Jerusalem with 1,000 Christian pilgrims, delivered his response via conference call to U.S. reporters. He said that had Yoffie and his followers asked him directly about his opinions, they could have avoided many of their alleged mistakes. Hagee said, for example, that he has not called the Catholic Church a "great ***," nor is he trying to dictate Israel''s security and political policies..."

"Last week, Yoffie urged Jewish organizations not to cooperate with Hagee''s Christian Zionists, arguing that they hurt Israel''s interests."

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/972811.html

At least we can always count on a laugh or two from this bunch, as this debacle unfolds.

Poor Rick.

[watcher269-2009]

REALLY?? But John McCain and President Bush say we are making Great strides in Iraq and that the surge has worked.

This must be one of those Murdoch stories to discredit the republican run country. Shame on you Murdoch - shame.

[shingles1]

"There is no sign in Baghdad of a let-up in fighting between U.S. troops and Iranian-backed Shiite militants."

Note the reference to Iranian-backed Shiite militants. Ignored is the fact that Maliki''s own Dawa/Badr alliance has deeper and longer ties with Iran than Sadr does. Lara Logan should know this most basic fact; Iran is covering it''s bases by supporting ALL the Shiite parties.

Facts be damned - we need someone ELSE to blame for this mess and it might as well be Iran. Watch Petraeus blame Iran in tomorrow''s testimony and watch the "liberal" news media repeat it unquestioningly. No "hard" questions will be asked and no evidence will be presented.

[mainedoggie]

More bunk. The surge is a propagandist myth, and none of it is working. And to say that one group threatens what you call *stability* is a joke. Nice try. We''re not buying it.