Mookie, Mookie, Mookie!

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

BAGHDAD - Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a six-month suspension of activities by his Mahdi Army militia in order to reorganize the force, and it will no longer attack U.S. and coalition troops, aides said Wednesday....

Asked if Mahdi militiamen would defend themselves against provocations, he replied: "We will deal with it when it happens."

Well you better work out a policy there because Sadr City is on the list and your clowns better figure out which team they are gonna play on. Mookie has pulled this, what three times now? Whenever he sees a little red dot on his chest, he declares a cease fire, or more properly a hudna, meaning his troops rest and refit and wait for more advantageous times.

Well that ain't  gonna fly this time. In or out Mookie, no sitting in the stands heckling. Now we have been making deals with quite a few Sunni Sheikhs, with pretty unpalatable backgrounds, so I'm not saying we can't cut a deal with him. But any deal needs to be on our terms and involve some shows of loyalty to the central government. Second biggest mistake of the occupation after disbanding the Army, not martyring Mookie the first time he poked his head up.

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» 2007.08.29 Politics and National Defense Roundup from Bill's Bites
Answering ANSWERMichelle Malkin The dog days of August have drawn to a close. This is the calm before the gathering political storm. On September 15, the far Left group ANSWER (”Act Now to Stop war and End Racism”) will descend on the nation’s capital ... [Read More]

Comments

[Deltabravo]

"Mookie has pulled this, what three times now. Whenever he sees a little red dot on his chest, he declares a cease fire,"

UJ, you have a most amusing way with words. Maybe we're hoping someone there does the deed for us so that we don't become the agent of his martyrdom? Let someone else get the blowback. I mean, enemies accumulate. He must have a long line by now.

[chiropetra]

If Maliki's position in the changing Iraqi landscape is complicated, Muqtada al-Sadr's is going to h-e-doubletoothpicks.

It's not really accurate to speak of al-Sadr controlling the Madhi Army Militia any more, or even of a "Madhi Army Militia". The group has fractured and re-fractured into a bunch of competing Shia groups. Some of them are being run by the Iranians, some of them, like most of the ones down by Basra, are tribal, some of them, like some of the ones in Bagdhad are aimed at protecting Shia from whoever they see as the enemy, and some of them are simply gangs of bandits.

It's pretty apparent now that for all his Darth Vader looks Mookie was always a lightweight. He inherited his position after Saddam murdered his father, and post-invasion he was a natural spokesman for a big segment of the Shia population. But he didn't have the political skills or courage to maintain his position. Cozying up to Iran helped for a while, but it also made him increasingly irrelevant. (Have we mentioned that Iraqi Shia by and large don't like Iranians?)

When he fled to Iran for the second time it was pretty obvious he was able to read the handwriting on the wall.

Now the bad news about all this is that al-Sadr's call on the Madhists to cool it means little or nothing. He doesn't have the clout with the gunmen any more.

The good news is that it allows us to pursue our strategy of disaggregation -- splitting groups off of the Madhi coalition and co-opting them, just as we did with the Sunni

[jordan]

Strange, Iran seems to be acting confused, pursuing a disjointed strategy in Iraq almost as if they're not sure who their friends and enemies are. Kind of like a quagmire, almost. This in the middle of social unrest, severe gas rationing, and a harsh crackdown on unIslamic behavior that must be giving the mullahs ulcers and the people a good reason for resentment. They need to extricate themselves from Iraq to quell the turmoil from a dissatisfied Iranian populace resentful about Iraq's drain on their resources.

It's difficult to unravel which splinter groups or factions Iran is supporting. Maybe they themselves aren't too sure who's getting their money, or what their "trainees" are doing.