Redstate

Posted at 1:24am on Jun. 16, 2008 That's one heck of a shade of lipstick, AP.

I mean, it doesn't suit the pig's complexion *at all.*

By Moe Lane

The pig being "the inconvenient truth that objective reality is determined to trump the established media narrative regarding Iraq." Latest version?

Anti-US cleric shifts strategy for Iraq elections
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD - Followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr will run candidates on other party tickets in upcoming Iraqi provincial elections, a top aide said Sunday, in an apparent bid to sidestep what they believe is a government campaign against their movement.

The decision is part of a sweeping strategic change by the militant cleric as the Shiite-led government gave Shiite militiamen in an al-Sadr stronghold four days to surrender heavy weapons or face arrest.

The new strategy includes a decision announced Friday by al-Sadr to set up an elite wing within his Mahdi Army to fight the Americans, enabling him to reassert control over his 60,000-strong militia that the U.S. says has fallen under Iranian influence.

Al-Sadr's followers hope to use this fall's provincial council balloting to loosen the grip on power that their Shiite rivals have enjoyed since the January 2005 elections, which the Sadrists boycotted.

Skipping aside the "decision" in the third paragraph - bluntly, Al-Sadr's credibility regarding being able to oppose either us or the legitimate Iraqi government has taken a hit over the last few months, and it doesn't seem to be keeping the latter from continuing to roll up Iranian distribution networks - please note how the final abandonment of a strategy that started in 2005 with the boycott of the Iraqi elections is touted as a "sweeping strategic change," instead of, say, an "abject strategic retreat." But no doubt we'll have it explained soon enough why this wholesale abandoning the Sadrist brand name is actually really the CLEVERIST IRAQI REVOLUTIONARY TACTIC YET!!!!!11!!!1

Well, I'm personally breathless with anticipation.

Moe Lane

PS: And to think: if we had only listened to Senator Barack Obama and run away last year, we might have avoided this entire messy little exercise in applied politics and instead gone with the terrible clarity of an actual civil war.

Shucks.

Posted in Foreign Affairs | Iraq | Maliki | Sadr — Comments (0)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:28pm on May 9, 2008 Oh, look. Maliki beat the Sadrists like a red-headed stepchild.

But... but... but... that doesn't fit the Media narrative!

By Moe Lane

And I can almost hear the teeth grinding of Ms. Fadel as she had to write this particular article (via Instapundit):

In big concession, militia agrees to let Iraqi troops into Sadr City
By Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD — Followers of rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr agreed late Friday to allow Iraqi security forces to enter all of Baghdad's Sadr City and to arrest anyone found with heavy weapons in a surprising capitulation that seemed likely to be hailed as a major victory for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.

In return, Sadr's Mahdi Army supporters won the Iraqi government's agreement not to arrest Mahdi Army members without warrants, unless they were in possession of "medium and heavy weaponry."

The agreement would end six weeks of fighting in the vast Shiite Muslim area that's home to more than 2 million residents and would mark the first time that the area would be under government control since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. On Friday, 15 people were killed and 112 were injured in fighting, officials at the neighborhoods two major hospitals said.

There's something pleasant about watching a site like McClatchy being forced to deal with objective reality. But enough about them! I have a question each for both of the Democratic candidates for President:

For Barry: Given that, if we had listened to you when you called for our cutting and running from Iraq, this scenario would not only not have happened, but the entire country would have probably collapsed into an inchoate mess - when are you going to actually revise and extend your position on the war so that it reflects conditions in this universe?

No, you may not ask a friend. Frankly, I don't know why you even have advisers, given that they seem to have a half-life of seaborgium. At this rate, I expect that you will soon have them all fitted with explosive collars that will go off whenever the policy positions they espouse go under 50% 60%* in the polls.

For Hill: Given that you are rapidly acquiring a rogues' gallery of left-wing pundits, bloggers, activists, anarchists, Marxists, and just plain insane nutballs that any self-respecting neo-conservative would envy... have you thought about just taking the damn plunge already and rejoining the side of the angels wrt the GWOT? All of those people above are prepared to climb over broken glass rather than vote for you anyway.

Come on. You know that you want to.

*Dammit, Addison. Having an actual sense of humor is fighting dirty.

Posted in Barack Obama | GWOT | Hillary Clinton | Iraq | Sadr | War — Comments (28)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:04pm on Apr. 7, 2008 Sadr Caves Again

By California Yankee

Sadr's Mahdi army offers to lay down its arms:

Iraq’s largest and most dangerous militia will voluntarily disband if Shia scholars advise its leader to do so, officials said yesterday — a dramatic move that could quell much of the fighting in the war-torn country.

Aides to Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr said that he would send delegations to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a moderate religious leader in Najaf, and to senior clerics in Iran to consult on whether he should stand down his 60,000-strong al-Mahdi Army.

Yesterday, Iraq's prime minister, Nouri Maliki, told CNN that the Sadr's political movement would not be allowed to take part in elections unless it disbanded its militia:

A decision was taken. . . that they no longer have a right to participate in the political process or take part in the upcoming elections unless they end the Mehdi Army and the unanimous decision agreed on by the political powers today. And this is the first time political powers dare say this -- the solution comes from dissolution, which means solving the problem comes in no other way other than dissolving the Mehdi Army. This is a very important point, this government, previous governments or coalition forces were not able to achieve any decisive victory the way it was achieved here, and the way it came out of the battle with full support from all different sides.

Rather than be excluded from the provincial elections scheduled for later this year, Sadr caved and is looking to save face by seeking the blessing of Sistani to stand down.

Read on, there's more.

Posted in Basra | Iraq | Maliki | Sadr | War — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »