Baghdad Nights
I don’t know why I can’t find this in the news (surge roundup below). Omar from Iraq the Model is happy to see heavily armed Americans moving down his own street, happy to see more checkpoints everywhere, and very happy to see even high government ministers arrested:
It was dark in my room except for a pale ray of moonlight coming through the window. Suddenly the floor began to tremble and a loud roaring sound broke the silence “What the…!” I thought. Then something really creepy happened. That pale ray of moonlight vanished leaving me in total darkness.
“First an earthquake and now the moon has vanished. Is this the end of the universe?”
Not a pleasant thought for a very secular person like myself.
I finally found the courage to get up and look out through my window. Two meters from me was a line of Stryker Armored Combat Vehicles that for some reason had pulled over in our street.
“Phew! Not the end of the universe yet!”
After some time, the convoy moved off, their engines fading slowly as the streets swallowed them up. I stood for a moment thinking about the men in those vehicles who stay up at night patrolling the dangerous streets of Baghdad to protect the few insomniacs like myself, and the millions of other sleeping Baghdadis. I said a prayer (in my own way) for their safety and went back to toss and turn in my bed.
Surge roundup:
Michael Yon’s take on Petraeus taking command:
Anyone who knows much about General Petraeus might agree that David Petraeus seems to have been born and raised to win this particular war. Frankly, the odds seem nearly impossible. Iraq is broiling and it’s getting worse. But there are glimmers of hope, and I see those glimmers with my own eyes here in Iraq. Troop morale is still good to high, and Iraqi Security Forces are improving, for instance. But make no mistake: America has asked David Petraeus to walk into a burning barn and perform brain surgery on a dying patient. If it can be done, David Petraeus is our man. The odds are against him. Personally, I am betting on General Petraeus, his staff, and the great number of hard-minded people who believe Iraq can stand again. This means I am betting for the good guys, and against the terrorists.
NYT on patrol with some of those Strykers Omar was talking about. Big move into East Baghdad.
McClatchy Newspapers says no one is more important to determining whether the Iraqi government and the United States succeed than Nouri al-Maliki. The article then proceeds to demonstrate how irrelevant he is. Very odd. Starting with the idea that al-Maliki is the most important guy. Last time I checked, it looked more like they had to force him to act, and have been working around him since.
AP: al-Sadr looks to lie low, outlast the US. The Mahdi Army has been up against the U.S. military before, and needed al-Sistani to make it stop. They don’t want to repeat the experience, and have not been rising to provocations such as the arrest of Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili. That means more provocations are necessary. Keep scooping them up until the Mahdi Army is either dismantled, or reacts and facilitates its own destruction.
AP: US is not finding what its looking for, and has to deal with bickering among Iraqi commanders over who to target first.
NYT: A look at Sadr City, which gets a lot of government baksheesh, and has been relatively safe for its Shiite residents, a great place to live under the protection of murderous thugs who will “throw you in the trunk” if they don’t like you.
Topics: Iraq
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:06 pm on Sunday, February 11, 2007
5 Responses to “Baghdad Nights”
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February 11th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
First we do Iran’s bidding by taking out Saddam.
Now we’re doing Al Qeada’s bidding by taking out the Shiite militias.
Brilliant.
February 12th, 2007 at 2:52 am
Bill’s Nibbles– 2007.02.12
Some Bill’s Bites posts, some things I excerpted and linked but I’m sending you to the original post. I may rearrange the order of the items within this post as I add new things that I think belong above the
February 12th, 2007 at 2:55 am
Baghdad Nights
Baghdad Nights Jules Crittenden I don’t know why I can’t find this in the news (surge roundup below). Omar from Iraq the Model is happy to see heavily armed Americans moving down his own street, happy to see more checkpoints
February 12th, 2007 at 5:00 am
alphie for president.
An aside: Omar is becoming a good writer in English. It has been interesting to watch his progress. He’s certainly better than some who show up here, who have no excuse for their ignorance and inability to think a coherent complete thought, much less write one.
Whenever I hear negatives about the Iraqis, I think about Omar and Ali and what their lives would be if we left.
February 12th, 2007 at 6:39 am
alphie:
First they bitch that we do Iran’s bidding then they bitch that we pick on Iran. go figure.