Looking for Some Reality

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Thursday not to "put a shine on recent events” in Iraq when they testify before Congress next week.

“I hope we don’t hear any glorification of what happened in Basra,” said Pelosi, referring to a recent military offensive against Shiite militants in the city led by the Iraqi government and supported by U.S. forces.

  Politico

She especially doesn’t want them to leave out the part about Iran’s influence in brokering a ceasefire agreement between al-Sadr and the Iraqi government. Something tells me they might be forced to acknowledge it, but they’ll still be polishing that shine.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Bush Junior

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday he planned to launch more security crackdowns like the one in Basra against "criminal gangs" in Baghdad.

  Yahoo

Because the "crackdown" in Basra went so well?!?!?

Even the Bushies are trying to distance themselves from that fiasco. But it gets better.

"We did not make mistakes, but we had points of weakness," al-Maliki said of the performance of the security forces. "We discovered that we have a shortage of appropriate weapons for the fight in Basra which we will work quickly to end."

Has al-Maliki been injecting Botox, too?

This is really quite funny in a pathetic way. You discover your shortage of weapons after you attack? Great planning, dude.

I wonder how he plans to quickly end the fight now that he got it started. Leave?

And his remarks of course precisely describe the entire U.S. situation in Iraq, except that mistakes were definitely made. And al-Maliki’s confidence aside, mistakes were made in his Basra fiasco, too. In fact, in both situations, the first mistake was going in at all.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." --Mark Twain

Had he lived till now, he no doubt would have stopped wondering.

Integritude

Within less than a week the Basra offensive has gone from "a defining moment" in Iraqi's history, in the President's words, to an operation conceived by Maliki that the U.S. didn't plan, had little warning of, and couldn't control.

  TPM

We're a nation led by worms.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

FUBAR

Of the two cities [Basra and Baghdad], Basra is more vulnerable. If Basra falls, then US troops will be forced to move into Basra. Basra is the only port in Iraq - oil gets transported out of there, and it’s also an extremely important supply route for US troops - equipment, food, materials = incredibly vulnerable. This seems to be the plan - draw US troops out of Baghdad to defend Basra. Next: al Sadr supporters storm the Iraqi Government. Declare victory. Demand that the U.S. get out immediately.

  comments at Feral Scholar

We shall see.

Blow Up

Basra's situation is worsening, including the destruction of an oil pipeline, along with scores of deaths.

Fighting has spread in the past two days to the southern cities of Kut, Hilla, Diwaniya, Amara and Kerbala. The authorities today imposed curfews across southern Iraq in an effort to halt the spread of violence.

Basra residents complained that they were living "in hell" since the crackdown started. "We have spent most of the time hiding under the staircase," said Faris Hayder, 28.

  Times Online

Hide while you still have a staircase.

The Magical Three Days

Three days in honor of Easter?

Iraq’s Prime Minister is giving Sadrists three days to turn over their weapons and renounce violence or face prison.

I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking they probably figure on prison sentences at the very least as part of a holy martyr’s risks. I rather doubt the threat will have any impact. And, I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me that the cease fire instigated by al-Sadr was the government’s best hope for less violence. What went wrong there?

FIERCE battles have erupted between Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias in Basra, Baghdad and other cities as the Government, backed by US and British reconnaissance planes, launched an offensive aimed at draining the power of politically backed gunmen.

The fiercest fighting in an operation codenamed Saulat al-Fursan (Charge of the knights) on Tuesday took place in Basra neighbourhoods, where Iraqi forces targeted members of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, further risking the collapse of a ceasefire that Sadr declared in late August. His fighters' stand-down has been widely credited with helping curb violence throughout the country during the American troop build up known as the surge.

[...]

In a sign of the offensive's importance, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki flew to Basra on Monday to oversee operations.

  smh.com

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was in Basra to supervise a crackdown against the spiraling violence between militia factions vying for control of the center of the country's vast oil industry located near the Iranian border.

[...]

Followers of al-Sadr […] have been fighting U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad and other cities in reaction to the Basra crackdown.

[...]

Hundreds of Sadr City residents took to the streets on Wednesday, demanding the government stop military operations in Basra and other cities and withdraw all security forces.

[...]

The Sadrists are angry over recent raids and detentions, saying U.S. and Iraqi forces have taken advantage of the cease-fire to crack down on the movement.

[...]

Suspected Shiite extremists also unleashed rockets or mortars against the U.S.-protected Green Zone in central Baghdad for the third day this week.

[...]

Sadiq al-Rikabi, a chief adviser to al-Maliki, said gunmen who fail to turn over their weapons to police stations in Basra by Friday will be targeted for arrest. He added that they also must sign a pledge renouncing violence.

"Any gunman who does not do that within these three days will be an outlaw," he said.

  Yahoo

Well, that oughta do it. I know they’d hate to be labeled outlaws.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Update 3/25/08: TPM has some explication of how the cease-fire has been breeched, beginning perhaps with rogue elements of the Sadr militia.

Update 3/28/08: Making adjustments.