From the Long War Journal comes this piece on a US Army precision strike on Saturday morning against an Iranian-backed Special Groups headquarters, located -- with characteristically callous disregard for the lives of civilians -- adjacent to a hospital in the Sadr City area of Baghdad. For anyone who is paying attention, The weapons utilized in this strike should serve to highlight the qualitative difference between our approach to this Conflict and that of our foes. Where our enemies routinely place their assets in civilian neighborhoods, places of worship, and hospitals, the US spends many millions or dollars on the development and deployment of ultra-high-precision weapons to pluck them from this mortal coil, while sparing, to the greatest extent possible, the innocent pawns they place in harm's way. This is a lesson which the residents of Beirut learned in the Summer of 2006, as Hezbollah terrorists placed rocket launchers in crowded apartment blocks, then plastered the tragic but unsurprising toll on Lebanese civilians all over the shamelessly 'handled' press.
Do devote a moment's thought to that, the next time someone tries the "moral equivalence" argument on you.
Meanwhile, having received incontrovertible evidence (care of recent action in and around Basra) of covert Iranian involvement in inciting and equipping illicit militant activity within its borders, the Iraqi government sent an envoy to Iran to serve notice. Naturally, the Iranian government denied any involvement...but it appears that the Maliki government is rapidly (if belatedly) losing patience with its meddlesome neighbor.
So much for the "anti-war" camp's memes that the new government of Iraq is A) a puppet of Tehran, and/or B) a stooge in the promulgation of disinformation to drum up support for war on Iran.
I’m greatly encouraged by the backbone we’ve seen of late from the Malaki government. Despite Sadr’s threats of another uprising they are holding firm, with the objective being the defanging of the Sadrists. The choice they’ve given Sadr is to either disarm and compete for votes like any other political party, or to fight. Neither option looks particularly appealing to Sadr, his followers, or his Iranian backers. To disarm is to give up on their goal of ruling Iraq by force, but fighting has only brought death and defeat on the ground. Malaki appears to have the political backing and the military support to make this confrontation decisive.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Throughout this whole affair, I've been bracing myself for the seemingly inevitable "negotiated settlement" (a la Waziristan) between Maliki and Sadr. Thus far, it has thankfully failed to come; if anything, Maliki's government has appeared to draw increasing levels of power and legitimacy and political capital as this has gone on.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, with each elaborately magnanimous "cease-fire" he declares from his hidey-hole in Iran, Sadr is progressively becoming about as impressive as the Grand Vizier of Munchkin-town.
Meanwhile, Iran has been so brazenly tipping its hand that it is sure to continue to inflame nationalistic backlash from the Iraqi people who would rather not have their affairs dictated from Tehran, thankyouverymuch.
Seems we may have backed the Strong Horse in Baghdad after all!