IRAQ: Central government hard line against Al-Sadre

[General Duke]

Maliki vows there will be 'no retreat' against Shia militias in Basra

 

The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, vowed to keep up the fight against Shia militias in Basra today despite deadly clashes killing 200 people across the oil-rich south and Baghdad, according to reports.

 

His defiance came as anti-government protests by tens of thousands of followers of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr continued on a fourth day of Iraqi military operations in Basra.

 

George Bush praised Maliki for the attacks. "Prime minister Maliki's bold decision, and it was a bold decision, to go after the illegal groups in Basra shows his leadership and his commitment to enforce the law in an even-handed manner," he said.

 

"It also shows the progress the Iraqi security forces have made during the surge."

 

Sadrist lawmakers in Baghdad issued a strong statement calling for an end to Maliki's assault. "We call on our brothers in the Iraqi army and the brave national police not to be tools of death in the hands of the new dictatorship," Falah Shanshal said at a news conference.

 

Heavy gunfire and explosions resounded across Basra today, while an interior ministry source said 51 people had been killed and more than 200 wounded in the city alone.

 

The city's police chief escaped an assassination attempt late today but three of his bodyguards were killed in the roadside bombing.

 

No other casualties were reported today but the military said a US soldier, two American civilians and an Iraqi soldier were wounded yesterday.

 

One of southern Iraq's two main oil export pipelines was also severely damaged in a bomb attack, officials said today.

 

The bombing of the pipeline, seven miles south of Basra, caused oil prices to rise yesterday to $107.70, though officials gave varying accounts of how supply would be affected.

 

"This morning, saboteurs blew up the pipeline transporting crude from [the] Zubair 1 [oil plant] by placing bombs beneath it," an oil company official said.

 

"Crude exports will be greatly affected because this is one of two main pipelines transporting crude to the southern terminals. We will lose about a third of crude exported through Basra."

 

The official said it would take three days to repair the damage if security could be provided for workers. But officials in Baghdad were optimistic that the damage could be contained and production returned to normal within a day.

 

Iraq exported 1.54m barrels of crude per day from Basra in February. Authorities imposed curfews across southern Iraq in an attempt to halt the spread of violence.

 

Yesterday, Maliki, gave Shia militia and other gunmen a 72-hour deadline to surrender their weapons.

 

As the US-protected Green Zone in Baghdad came under renewed attack from rockets and mortars, US officials insisted members of the Mahdi Army were not being singled out in the Basra crackdown.

 

They blamed Iranian-backed rogue militia elements for the violence in Basra and Baghdad, in which more than 100 people have been killed, according to Iraqi officials and news agency reports.

 

British commanders told the Guardian that "renegade groups" and criminal gangs were responsible for the violence.

 

The 4,100 British troops based at Basra airport are not taking part in the crackdown, although Iraqi helicopters have been refuelled at the airport.

 

Sadr was reported to have called for talks to end the fighting between government forces and his followers.

 

A senior aide, Luwaa Sumaisem, told Reuters that the truce the cleric had agreed last August was still in place.

 

Shia militia have also been fighting US and Iraqi forces in the Shia Baghdad neighbourhoods of al-Baiyaa, Shaab and Kazimiyah, as well as Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad.

 

Police said at least 10 people, including a baby girl, were killed and 31 wounded in clashes in Kut, 105 miles south of Baghdad.

[General Duke]

Has Maliki over estimated his power, or is Sadre on the wane?

[General Duke]

[Fabregas]

Clashes between different warlords and the further division of the the various communities into rival factions, warlords and clans look set to continue. Iraq is on it's way to becoming a failed state, or has it already?

[General Duke]

^^^It seems the central governemnt is getting stronger. A year or so ago Sader would not have been touched.

[Fabregas]

Iraq doesn't need stronger guns and tanks. That has failed for the past five years and I fail to see how the current operation will change Iraq for the better. Since the gang led by Malikia also operates through the use of militias and has proved itself utterly incapable of ruling the country effectively. Al Sadr's forces will probably resist bitterly and then after this they will sign a ceasefire. Sadr and all the other militias will still have widepread influence among some communities and then we are back to square one: Iraq under occupation; and a joke government, resistance, warlords, terrorists, tribal hatred, religous segregation! I wouldn't call that progress!

[General Duke]

^^^The Shia groups are using Sadam's tactics. In the end a large population and a strong army will bring order.

 

This Basra action demonstartes there is change. Sadre wanting to negotiate, a thing that would never have happened in the past.

[Fabregas]

Sadr has negotiated many times before. Remember he fought Americans at the start of the war and I believe Ayatollah Sistansi was instrumental in negotiating a way of that. He also negotiated effetively in securing a 6 month ceasfire with the Americans and is now trying to position himself as a populist Iraqi leader( with the call for civil disobedience,Shia-Sunni unity etc). The fact that He is negotiating shouldn't be seen as a sign of weakness. If he negotiates a ceasfire and a cessation of hostilities, it means Malik's deadline is finished and the latter man failed in his objective, whilst the former still holds influence and controls key Iraqi districts/ports. Moreover, the American involvement( majority of Iraqis are against their stay) negatively affects Maliki, as he has claimed this is solely an Iraqi occupation!

[General Duke]

Sader fought both the Americans and the other Shiate factions. However now he has called for this recent troubles, he is losing Basra an important region which has the most oil and the nations only port.

 

The government which is allied to the other faction is not budging.

 

He is negotiating from a position of weakness. the Iranians have abandoned the lad, it seems.

[Fabregas]

He will probably come out from this position strenghtened in this.....and when that happens I shall resurrect this thread!

[Armchair Politician]

It's all macho posturing BS. Everyone in Iraq pretends that they alone hold the key to Iraqi stability.

[General Duke]

Geelhire, the expert on Al-Sader. Anyhow I am suprised by the gains the government has made. If this sticks then the Shia coilition will not be stopped.

[Fabregas]

I'm suprised you label Malik's Gangs of Baghdad as a government! I don't particularly like the Alsadr group or the Alkeyda in Eyerack. But that wouldn't make me indulge in propoganda for the gang that calls themselves rulers of eyerack! Anyway, we shall see!

[General Duke]

^^^Adeer they are a government, weak as they may seem, the Shiite + Kurds have the majority of the population with them.

 

Anyhow we need to wait and see.

[Fabregas]

Iraq’s Prime Minister was staring into the abyss today after his operation to crush militia strongholds in Basra stalled, members of his own security forces defected and district after district of his own capital fell to Shia militia gunmen.

 

With the threat of a civil war looming in the south, Nouri al-Maliki’s police chief in Basra narrowly escaped assassination in the crucial port city, while in Baghdad, the spokesman for the Iraqi side of the US military surge was kidnapped by gunmen and his house burnt to the ground.