Maliki may know what he’s doing after all.

Doubtful.

Remember von Clausewitz? “War is politics continued by other means.” If an incomplete, poorly resisted attack on the Mahdhi army is enough to get the necessary parties on board with the government, it is a successful political and military action.

Regarding that clause in the Iraqi constitution: it would be interesting to have a better idea of what the phrase “undisputed rules of Islam” means in the Iraqi dialect(s) of Arabic. When you look at the bizarre interpretations that SCOTUS has put on the US Constitution, you can imagine (if you want) that if Iraq wants to ignore this clause, they will find a way to do it. Still, at a minimum, it seems that Islam cannot be outlawed.

This article from Hot Air jumps off this article from the AP to explain how Iraqi President Maliki’s unsteady assault on Shiites in Basra earned the approval and cooperation of Sunni and Kurdish politicians who have been stalling the progress of …

MB4 on April 6, 2008 at 5:26 PM

Ummmmmmmm………… so you support our efforts in Iraq, right?

I finally get it, Entelechy…………

October is too late lets hope for an April or may suprise.

Germany,Japan,Italy have not adopted a constitution like ours nor did we force our ways on them

Baxter Greene on April 6, 2008 at 9:44 AM

It isn’t just that the total defeat and utter devastation of Japan nullifies the comparison with Iraq (which it does). There is something else. There is the completely different U.S. approach to Japan’s animating, warlike state religion of Shintoism, which, not incidentally, bears striking similarities to the animating, warlike state religion of Islam.

Bottom line? History shows that the conditions that drove the model transformation of Japan do not exist today with regard to the Islamic Middle East.
- Diana West (Jewish World Review Feb. 15, 2008)

It’s called the War on Terror Mb4,and Iraq is the central battleground.

Baxter Greene on April 6, 2008 at 9:44 AM

Baxter’s Iraqi-centric belief system:

1) All roads start in Iraq.
2) All roads end in Iraq.
3) The Sun revolves around Iraq.
4) The moon revolves around Iraq.
5) The stars revolve around Iraq.
6) If the United States does not keep sufficient troop mass in Iraq, the orbital stability of the Earth will become unbalanced and all Muslim terrorists will slide into America.

Baxter’s career plans, which include but are not limited to, for Iraq after Bush’s mission has been accomplished, which of course is just around the next corner now.

1) Baxter wants to open up a number of Ruth Chris Steakhouse
franchises in Iraq.
2) Baxter wants to sell “You are a Great Iraqi” buttons to
Iraqis.
3) Baxter wants to start a ministry in Iraq and preach the gospel.
4) Baxter wants to join hands with Shiites and Sunnis and sing “We are the World” in Iraq.

Petraeus is going to be breaking a lot of defeatist hearts this month.

Baxter Greene on April 6, 2008 at 9:56 AM

You sound so much like Al Gore.

He has got his “deniers” and you’ve got your “defeatists”.

Germany,Japan,Italy have not adopted a constitution like ours nor did we force our ways on them

Baxter Greene on April 6, 2008 at 9:44 AM

That has got to be about the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard and I have hear a lot of ridiculous things.

Maybe you never heard about WWII.

Specifically an eye looking through a scope, down a long barrel, 2 miles away.

Nancy Pelosi is warning Petraeus that she doesn’t want him to try and put any positive spin on the events in Basra, just to “tell the truth”. She sees the recent events in Basra as proof that Iraq is going poorly, and doesn’t wa…

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources sum up how Tehran and Damascus read these events and the picture they have built up of Washington’s intentions as combined with Israel’s military steps:
1. US is preparing to attack the Iranian military installations linked to subversion in Iraq. The operation will widen out into strikes on the Islamic Republic’s suspect nuclear sites.
2. Israel will use the chance for a concurrent attack on Syria.
3. Israel will attack Hizballah’s strongholds in Lebanon.
4. A broad, coordinated US-Israeli offensive will be mounted against Iran, Syria and Hizballah.
Iran and Syria view Israel’s four-day home defense exercise against missile attack, conventional or non-conventional, beginning Sunday, as setting the stage for these attacks… http://debka.com/headline.php?hid=5168

Is President Bush planning an October Surprise? What will General Petraeus say this week about Iran?

Baxter Greene on April 6, 2008 at 9:56 AM

Not only that, but the Iranians may have walked into a trap if they allowed Qods forces to participate in the fighting. That’ll make a really nice PowerPoint presentation. Tick, tick, tick.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3690010.ece

I noted in previous posts (here, here and here – thanks LJStrata for reminding me to put the links in!) that Moqtada al-Sadr actually was losing the fight for Iraq with his militia’s. I noted if the West is tired of dealing with the religious v…

Well, back to minding the “defeat”…

Iraqi FM against quick US troop pullout

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press WriterTue Mar 18, 4:10 PM ET
Iraq’s foreign minister said Tuesday the risks of civil war have been averted after five years of “tears and blood.” But he warned an abrupt withdrawal of U.S. troops would wipe away the security gains and other achievements and have disastrous consequences.
With the war entering its sixth year, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari acknowledged mistakes by all sides. But he insisted that Iraqis have made remarkable progress despite the violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 4,000 U.S. troops.”

Here is some signs of success:

Al Qaeda Recruiter Blues

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20080323.aspx
March 23, 2008: The sharp drop in suicide bombings in Iraq is partly due to the decline in foreign al Qaeda volunteers coming into Iraq.

No one there wants to admit that al Qaeda has been beaten in Iraq, but the more first-hand accounts that show up, the more convincing the stories are. The truth is this. The al Qaeda volunteers have long been enticed by the prospect of killing American soldiers. That rarely happens, and survivor accounts always make that point, and the fact that al Qaeda is mostly killing Iraqis. Last year, most of the Sunni Arabs turned on al Qaeda, and this has been most difficult for the al Qaeda recruiters to deal with.

But how can this be, the war is lost right?

More news of Freedom:

March 24, 2008
The Liberation of Karmah, Part I

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/03/the-liberation.php

KARMAH, IRAQ – Just beyond the outskirts of Fallujah lies the terror-wracked city of Karmah. While you may not have heard of this small city of 35,000 people, American soldiers and Marines who served in Anbar Province know it as a terrifying place of oppression, death, and destruction. “It was much worse than Fallujah” said more than a dozen Marines who were themselves based in Fallujah.
“Karmah was so important to the insurgency because we’ve got Baghdad right there,” Lieutenant Andrew Macak told me. “This is part of the periphery of Baghdad. At the same time, it is part of the periphery of Fallujah.”

Yea,no progress at all.

Petraeus is going to be breaking a lot of defeatist hearts
this month.

It was not to have constitutions enshrining Islamic law.

You have a very strange concept of “Checkmate”. Maybe you should try checkers first.”

NO,mB4,maybe you should try reality first.This is not a movie,getting people who have hated and killed each other
for thousands of years will not happen overnight.
But we have accomplished a lot it you can take your “blinders”off and see.

THE SURGE IS WORKING:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/03/20080319-2.html

Since all the surge forces began operating in mid-2007:
Overall violence in Iraq is significantly down.
Civilian deaths are down.
Sectarian killings are down.
Attacks on American forces are down.
Coalition forces have captured or killed thousands of extremists in Iraq, including hundreds of key al Qaeda leaders and operatives.
We have begun bringing some of our troops home as a “return on success.”
More than 90,000 concerned local citizens are now helping to protect their communities from terrorists, insurgents, and extremists. The “Awakening” movement began in Anbar in 2006, when Sunni tribal leaders grew tired of al Qaeda’s brutality and started a popular uprising. As this effort succeeded, it inspired other Iraqis to take up the fight.

But the war is lost,right Mb4.

Iraq is a muslim nation,what kind of constitution do you
think they are supposed to have.
This is why the “imperialist” talk is so much crap.We are
helping Iraq set up it’s own form of government,not imposing
our religions or trying to turn it into the 51’st state.

mb4,
The return of the rule of law in Iraq?

Have they ever had that in Iraq?

No,
They had a brutal genocidal dictator named Saddam who used
weapons of mass destruction to kill hundreds of thousands of
his own people and in the wars he started.

Now they have voted in a representative government and are fighting side by side with us to defeat al-qaeda and rouge
militia’s.

It’s called the War on Terror.

Del Dolmonte asked a relevant question:

What’s our mission in the countries we defeated in WW 2, kid?

Germany,Japan,Italy have not adopted a constitution like
ours nor did we force our ways on them,they seem to be doing
pretty good.
If you don’t think Iraq should still be a muslim country or adhere to there heritage,what would you impose on them
that would not paint the US as “imperialist”.

You are big on criticism,but real short on solutions except
surrender.

The surge has been a major success in bringing down violence and bringing on political reconciliation,there will
be no cut and run whether you like it or not.

Mb4 may not think the liberation of Iraq is important,but our enemies do:

COMPARE AND CONTRAST
April 4, 2008

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/04/020215.php

Ayman al-Zawahiri, from his online chat a few days ago:

As-Sahab: And what is the most important field in which this Mujahid vanguard is wrestling with the enemies of Islam?

Zawahiri: Iraq is the most important of these fields.

Nancy Pelosi, from her press conference yesterday:
As we’ve said before and I’ll end by saying: How is this war in Iraq helping us fight the war on terrorism, the real war on terrorism, Afghanistan?

It’s called the War on Terror Mb4,and Iraq is the central
battleground.

I do hope this is the beginning of the end for Sadr and the return of the rule of law in Iraq.

jdun on April 6, 2008 at 3:34 AM

The return of the rule of law in Iraq?

Have they ever had that in Iraq?

To paraphrase Mark Twain, “Reports of Sadr’s end are premature”.

Also to paraphrase Mark Twain, “If Sadr should die and has a funeral, I will not be able to attend, but I will be sure to send a nice card saying that I approve.”

Amy Proctor on April 6, 2008 at 12:25 AM

My main point is that they’ve put in their constitution a specific religion as the basis of all laws and that religion is at odds with a Democratic Republic. Sharia does not equal freedom.

Had we pulled a MacArthur and written their constitution for them (and Afghanistan’s) – as you may know MacArthur virtually wrote Japan’s constitution after WWII – with no reference to the most violent religion on Earth as their basis of law we would have won both in the short term, which we are doing, and in the long term which, I believe, because of their constitution, we have lost.

Know why Indians, sorry, Native Americans get to sell cigarettes tax free and set up all these casinos? It’s because of the wording in our own Constitution – do a search on Indian Nations or Indian Tribes in the Constitution. You know how easy it is to change the Constitution? Not very.

I make this point to illustrate that there is a fundamental difference between a constitution that is rooted in Islamic principles, deity-centric view, and our Constitution, which is an individual-centric view – a view that man tends to aggregate power whenever possible and thus needs checks/balances. They both have a root in a perspective and accompanying relationship between deity and man, but these are just absolutely fundamentally different.