Mahdi cease-fire over

[Drocket]

The Mahdi Army's seven-month-long cease-fire appears to have come undone.

Rockets fired from the capital's Shiite district of Sadr City slammed into the Green Zone Tuesday, the second time in three days, and firefights erupted around Baghdad pitting government and US forces against the militia allied to the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

At the same time, the oil-export city of Basra became a battleground Tuesday as Iraqi forces, backed by US air power, launched a major crackdown on the Mahdi Army elements. British and US forces were guarding the border with Iran to intercept incoming weapons or fighters, according to a senior security official in Basra.

The US blames the latest attacks on rogue Mahdi Army elements tied to Iran, but analysts say the spike in fighting with Shiite militants potentially opens a second front in the war when the American military is still doing battle with the Sunni extremists of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

"The cease-fire is over; we have been told to fight the Americans," said one Mahdi Army militiaman, who was reached by telephone in Sadr City. This same man, when interviewed in January, had stated that he was abiding by the cease-fire and that he was keeping busy running his cellular phone store.

Sadr City residents say they saw fighting Tuesday between Mahdi militiamen and US and Iraqi forces in several parts of the district. One eyewitness, in the adjacent neighborhood of Baghdad Jadida, who wished to remain anonymous, said he saw a heavy militia presence on the streets, with two fighters planting roadside bombs on a main thoroughfare.

Lt. Col. Steve Stover of the Baghdad-based 4th Infantry Division said that in the span of 12 hours Tuesday 16 rockets were fired at the Green Zone and nine rockets and 18 mortar rounds fell on US bases and combat outposts on the east side of Baghdad. A mortar round hit a US patrol in the northern Adhamiyah district, killing one US soldier. A roadside bomb set a US Humvee on fire in Sadr City but all soldiers inside survived. He said clashes broke out between American forces and militiamen when they attacked several government checkpoints in the district and that some of these posts are now manned by both US and Iraqi forces.

Link (http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0326/p01s13-woiq.html)


Though Bush and McCain have been trying to claim that the reason for the reduction of violence in Iraq was due to the surge, the real reason was the cease-fire that Sadr ordered for his followers (after a little girl was killed in a temple.) That now appears to be over. Unless the US can figure out some way to appeal to Sadr again, things are probably going to be getting pretty messy in Iraq.

[lily]

I think you're right, Drocket and a few of us have been saying all along that the only reason the surge was working was because of the cease-fire.

........just another little "oopppsie". We wanted Najaf so bad, that we made a deal with al-sadr, let him and all his men go with their weapons.

[apdst]

Unless the US can figure out some way to appeal to Sadr again

A double tap to the head would be a good start.

[ECW]

I think you're right, Drocket and a few of us have been saying all along that the only reason the surge was working was because of the cease-fire.

........just another little "oopppsie". We wanted Najaf so bad, that we made a deal with al-sadr, let him and all his men go with their weapons.


The few of us who did recognize that the Surge "worked" because the Sadr forces stopped fighting are now in a sad position of watching more American troops becoming casualties trying to intercede in a civil religious war while the Iraqi government sits on its hands. Leaving the heavy lifting to American troops that they expect to be in country for another 100 years is a recipe for even more disaster. This is just the beginning of what promises to be a very ugly and bloody summer. I hope I am wrong but I don't think I am.

[Truth_and_Power]

Not only was there the Sadr cease-fire, there was the cooperation of some sunnis. All that is required for that to collapse is for sadr to attack them and the coalition gov't to be percieved to let it happen. Once that occurs we will be right back where we were.

[ECW]

Not only was there the Sadr cease-fire, there was the cooperation of some sunnis. All that is required for that to collapse is for sadr to attack them and the coalition gov't to be percieved to let it happen. Once that occurs we will be right back where we were.


That somewhere was called a quagmire. It still is.

[Trish]

With the 3-day deadline the Iraqi government has given al-Sadr is over we'll see if Iraq is anywhere near ready and able to carry its own water. I hope it is. While the surge enabled and supported the cease fire, and the cease fire supported the surge, sooner or later Iraq has got to stand on its own two feet. I'm hoping that we'll see that Iraq is, if not totally able to walk, is able to at least pull itself up to standing position!

[lily]

Here's hoping Trish. This is what I've been waiting for all along..not the end of the ceasefire, but the Iraqis standing up. Al-Maliki has a lot on the line, if he doens't come through on this, all bets are off.

[Elrathin]

With the 3-day deadline the Iraqi government has given al-Sadr is over we'll see if Iraq is anywhere near ready and able to carry its own water. I hope it is. While the surge enabled and supported the cease fire, and the cease fire supported the surge, sooner or later Iraq has got to stand on its own two feet. I'm hoping that we'll see that Iraq is, if not totally able to walk, is able to at least pull itself up to standing position!


My question is this....Is the lower Casualty rate due to the Surge in troops or the fact they had a cease fire? I think we are about to find out in the next couple of months and my bet is on the cease fire is the reason we saw a lull in casualties.

[Go Fish]

The Mahdi Army's seven-month-long cease-fire appears to have come undone.

Rockets fired from the capital's Shiite district of Sadr City slammed into the Green Zone Tuesday, the second time in three days, and firefights erupted around Baghdad pitting government and US forces against the militia allied to the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

At the same time, the oil-export city of Basra became a battleground Tuesday as Iraqi forces, backed by US air power, launched a major crackdown on the Mahdi Army elements. British and US forces were guarding the border with Iran to intercept incoming weapons or fighters, according to a senior security official in Basra.

The US blames the latest attacks on rogue Mahdi Army elements tied to Iran, but analysts say the spike in fighting with Shiite militants potentially opens a second front in the war when the American military is still doing battle with the Sunni extremists of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

"The cease-fire is over; we have been told to fight the Americans," said one Mahdi Army militiaman, who was reached by telephone in Sadr City. This same man, when interviewed in January, had stated that he was abiding by the cease-fire and that he was keeping busy running his cellular phone store.

Sadr City residents say they saw fighting Tuesday between Mahdi militiamen and US and Iraqi forces in several parts of the district. One eyewitness, in the adjacent neighborhood of Baghdad Jadida, who wished to remain anonymous, said he saw a heavy militia presence on the streets, with two fighters planting roadside bombs on a main thoroughfare.

Lt. Col. Steve Stover of the Baghdad-based 4th Infantry Division said that in the span of 12 hours Tuesday 16 rockets were fired at the Green Zone and nine rockets and 18 mortar rounds fell on US bases and combat outposts on the east side of Baghdad. A mortar round hit a US patrol in the northern Adhamiyah district, killing one US soldier. A roadside bomb set a US Humvee on fire in Sadr City but all soldiers inside survived. He said clashes broke out between American forces and militiamen when they attacked several government checkpoints in the district and that some of these posts are now manned by both US and Iraqi forces.

Link (http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0326/p01s13-woiq.html)


Though Bush and McCain have been trying to claim that the reason for the reduction of violence in Iraq was due to the surge, the real reason was the cease-fire that Sadr ordered for his followers (after a little girl was killed in a temple.) That now appears to be over. Unless the US can figure out some way to appeal to Sadr again, things are probably going to be getting pretty messy in Iraq.


Well, clearly we need to kill him and all of his followers. Thanks for supporting my standpoint.
In all seriousness, did you really believe that Al Sadr is in this for the welfare of the average Iraqi? He's a fucking death pimp, and he needs to be killed.

[Go Fish]

With the 3-day deadline the Iraqi government has given al-Sadr is over we'll see if Iraq is anywhere near ready and able to carry its own water. I hope it is. While the surge enabled and supported the cease fire, and the cease fire supported the surge, sooner or later Iraq has got to stand on its own two feet. I'm hoping that we'll see that Iraq is, if not totally able to walk, is able to at least pull itself up to standing position!


My question is this....Is the lower Casualty rate due to the Surge in troops or the fact they had a cease fire? I think we are about to find out in the next couple of months and my bet is on the cease fire is the reason we saw a lull in casualties.


Your Kool-Aid consumption is showing. Anyone who chooses Al Sadr over the United States has some really fucking serious issues, and I'm your 1-Man Intervention Team. Think about what you are suggesting. If you can't think, go out to the street and ask people who are passing by.

[Elrathin]

Go Fish, cool your hatred, I never said I chose Sadir, I said I am willing to bet it isn't the surge but the cease fire that caused the causalities to go down.

Choosing Sadir would mean I want him to win, I don't, but I do think the reality is that the Cease Fire is the cause for the lower casualties.

[Trish]

With the 3-day deadline the Iraqi government has given al-Sadr is over we'll see if Iraq is anywhere near ready and able to carry its own water. I hope it is. While the surge enabled and supported the cease fire, and the cease fire supported the surge, sooner or later Iraq has got to stand on its own two feet. I'm hoping that we'll see that Iraq is, if not totally able to walk, is able to at least pull itself up to standing position!


My question is this....Is the lower Casualty rate due to the Surge in troops or the fact they had a cease fire? I think we are about to find out in the next couple of months and my bet is on the cease fire is the reason we saw a lull in casualties.



From what I've read over the months the surge "encouraged" the cease fire. I don't think the cease fire would have lasted as long as it did without the surge. Undoubtedly the cease fire decreased violence - that's kinda the whole point of a cease fire. Reports seem to indicate that the return of various regions to Iraqi control is the catalyst for the end of the cease fire which suggests to me that it was the control the surge gave to the US troops that kept the cease fire in place for the last year.

What I'm interested in seeing is whether or not the Iraqi government, after the extra year the surge bought them, has the wherewithal and the gumption to stand up for itself.

[Go Fish]

Go Fish, cool your hatred, I never said I chose Sadir, I said I am willing to bet it isn't the surge but the cease fire that caused the causalities to go down.

Choosing Sadir would mean I want him to win, I don't, but I do think the reality is that the Cease Fire is the cause for the lower casualties.

Cool your support of the Bad Guys. If we hadn't opened that can of whup-ass colloquially referred to as "The Surge", Al Sadr would never have taken his scumbags into hiding.
They'll all be dead shortly.

[Elrathin]

Cool your support of the Bad Guys. If we hadn't opened that can of whup-ass colloquially referred to as "The Surge", Al Sadr would never have taken his scumbags into hiding.
They'll all be dead shortly.


Can you show me where I supported the 'bad guys" If not your credibility just went down the gutters. Prove it or the proof is your credibility is nothing right now.

[ECW]

Cool your support of the Bad Guys. If we hadn't opened that can of whup-ass colloquially referred to as "The Surge", Al Sadr would never have taken his scumbags into hiding.
They'll all be dead shortly.


Can you show me where I supported the 'bad guys" If not your credibility just went down the gutters. Prove it or the proof is your credibility is nothing right now.


It's just another backhanded way of trying to imply that people who are not marching lockstep with the war mongers are terrorist sympathizers. They can't prove it, El, although they will try using every ounce of convoluted logic they can to do so.

Al Sadr stopped the violence to give the government an opportunity to get their act together. It obviously did not work. None of the benchmarks that we were promised would come to pass actually have come to pass. They pleaded for six more months. They got it. Time's up. Leave the Iraqis to solve this themselves. We need to come home. They won't act until we do. They've conned us into carrying their water and 32% of Americans are still buying into this failed policy and lashing out at anyone who doesn't.

Pathetic.