Now We’re Getting Somewhere
Us and Iraqi forces arrest top al-Sadr aide in Baghdad.
Al-Sadr said in an interview with an Italian newspaper published Friday that the crackdown had already begun and that 400 of his men had been arrested. La Repubblica also quoted him as saying he fears for his life and stays constantly on the move.
The raid came as Defense Secretary Robert Gates began his second trip to Iraq in less than a month, arriving in the southern city of Basra to consult with British and other allied commanders.
Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, al-Sadr’s media director in Baghdad, was captured and his personal guard was killed, according to another senior al-Sadr aide.
“We strongly condemn this cowardly act,” said Sheik Abdul-Zahra al-Suweiadi.
All well and good, sounds like an aggressive action and a provocation of the sort that is needed to force al-Maliki to take sides or force him out, and to force the Mahdi Army out into the open to fight. And die.
Or, sounds like very well-staged theater. Too early to tell.
Links:
Tigerhawk, taking a similar cautiously encouraged view, adds: “a central objective of the surge is psychological. George Bush, virtually alone in the Washington power elite, is saying that he won’t desert the Iraqis. The surge is his statement that the Iraqis can count on him, and in return he demands that they take a side, once and for all, and put their marker down.”
Captains Quarters: They took him in a mosque. They’re serious. But will they stay at al-Sadr this time?
Outside the Beltway also senses an element of high-stakes theatrics: “Why … would al-Sadr break the news himself and talk about how scared he is for his own safety? That strikes me as incredibly odd, especially for someone who wants to cultivate a reputation as a tough guy. Could he have sold out al-Darraji to help bolster al-Maliki and hasten the exit of Coalition forces?”
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Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:22 am on Friday, January 19, 2007
2 Responses to “Now We’re Getting Somewhere”
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January 19th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
OTB Nails it: “Could he have sold out al-Darraji to help bolster al-Maliki and hasten the exit of Coalition forces?”
Look for the Mahdi Army to morph into the Shi’a version of tumbleweed, blowing out of town in steady, random numbers, heading elsewhere for temporary lodging.
al-Masri’s already proven himself a more intelligent strategic thinker than his psychotic predecessor, ordering his reluctant short-visioned footsoldiers out of Baghdad, and Muqi’s sure to follow suit. As ‘unbright’ as he may be, he has excellent Iranian advisors.
It’s the unfortunate baggage that comes along with ’superior brute force’: It’s cumbersome, slow to move and prone to telegraphing. Sort of like Congressional debates which serve the same purpose.
Zarqawi was too fanatically stupid to adjust. Iran (guiding al-Sadr) and al-Masri are not.
January 19th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
The key statement is that Bush is virtually alone, and congress and the media has made certain that everybody knows it. Ahmadinejad said last year that Bush was a fluke and they just needed to wait him out. The enemy is a bunch of barbarians, but they aren’t stupid barbarians.