"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.
They also have accused rival Shiite parties, which control Iraqi security forces, of engineering the arrests to prevent them from mounting an effective election campaign. The showdown with al-Sadr has been brewing for months but has accelerated since parliament agreed in February to hold provincial elections by the fall.
On Wednesday in Basra, gunfire echoed through the streets as Iraqi soldiers and police fought the Mahdi Army, police said.
Reinforcements were sent to Basra from the Shiite holy city of Karbala, Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said, adding a large number of gunmen have been detained." Yahoo News
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So, there is fighting in Basra among the Shia? What a surprise! A showdown there between forces of the Mahdi Army and the rest has been "in the cards" for some time. The MSM talks as though the "Iraqi Security Forces" are something other than representatives of millitia anti Sadrist forces among the Shia. That is not the case. The security forces really represent the power of some of the Shia parties/militias being used in this case against the Sadrists. There is an ongoing struggle among the major Shia factions in Iraq. One of these is the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr. Others include the Dawa allies of Prime Ministers Maliki, the al-Hakim faction (SIIC), the Badr Force (generally allied with Hakim) and Fadila in the Basra area.
Need a score card? Well... the "security forces" are full of Badr Force militia men. These people belong to an organization that was raised originally by Iran to fight against IRAQ. They have been recruited into the "security forces" in large numbers. They intend to break the Mahdi Army if they can and the US seems to approve of that idea.
Reinforcements have been sent from Karbala to Basra. Karbala is virtually ruled by the Badr Force.
The US has been treasuring the idea that the apparatus of the Iraqi state is other than a congeries of militia factions and parties.
Once again the untruth of that is exposed.
Who is firing into the Green Zone. I doubt if anyone really knows. pl
Analysis from CNN doesn't look good:
CNN
Posted by: Cold War Zoomie | 27 March 2008 at 04:12 PM
PL asks:
Who on earth does he [Bush] think the enemy is at Basra?
Al-Qaeda fighters trained by Iran, obviously. Where were you during McCain's brilliant speech?
Also, looks the ARVN all over again with Iraqi forces defecting to Sadr's side (or just running away):
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3635838.ece
At least this is a movie McCain has seen before.
Posted by: Binh | 28 March 2008 at 01:48 PM