THIS is "Deterioration"???
Don't look now, but Sadr City has capitulated:
"I've given up my weapons, I'm with the interim government now," said Ahmed Hashem after handing over 22 rocket-propelled grenades. "We want peace and I won't fight the Americans."
The U.S.-backed government aims to retake control of rebel-held areas throughout Iraq by political or military means ahead of national assembly elections due in January.
Mehdi Army fighters led by Moqtada al-Sadr began handing in weapons at the start of a five-day period in which they have agreed to disarm in the flashpoint Sadr City district.
The bottom line of this is that Sadr had a choice: die like a man, or live like a dog. Since he couldn't win, and his consequent loss of prestige among his followers (mostly because almost all of them are dead) had robbed his own death of the martrydom he so coveted, he decided to throw in the turban.
That leaves Fallujah, where Abu Masab al-Zarqawi has set up his own mini fiefdom. Since Zarqawi isn't a Saladin in his own mind like Sadr, and has no political interest to be piqued in the new Iraq, it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that Fallujah will get the Samarra treatment - and, hopefully, Zarqawi will be separated from his head.
Captain Ed concludes:
"[T]he disarming of Sadr City shows that the lessons of Samarra have been heard and understood. The Iraqis and Americans are not afraid to confront terrorist strongholds straight on, and can clear them out in a matter of days, when determined to do so. Fallujah may be days away from discovering the same lessons, up close and personal."
"I've given up my weapons, I'm with the interim government now," said Ahmed Hashem after handing over 22 rocket-propelled grenades. "We want peace and I won't fight the Americans."
The U.S.-backed government aims to retake control of rebel-held areas throughout Iraq by political or military means ahead of national assembly elections due in January.
Mehdi Army fighters led by Moqtada al-Sadr began handing in weapons at the start of a five-day period in which they have agreed to disarm in the flashpoint Sadr City district.
The bottom line of this is that Sadr had a choice: die like a man, or live like a dog. Since he couldn't win, and his consequent loss of prestige among his followers (mostly because almost all of them are dead) had robbed his own death of the martrydom he so coveted, he decided to throw in the turban.
That leaves Fallujah, where Abu Masab al-Zarqawi has set up his own mini fiefdom. Since Zarqawi isn't a Saladin in his own mind like Sadr, and has no political interest to be piqued in the new Iraq, it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that Fallujah will get the Samarra treatment - and, hopefully, Zarqawi will be separated from his head.
Captain Ed concludes:
"[T]he disarming of Sadr City shows that the lessons of Samarra have been heard and understood. The Iraqis and Americans are not afraid to confront terrorist strongholds straight on, and can clear them out in a matter of days, when determined to do so. Fallujah may be days away from discovering the same lessons, up close and personal."
posted by JASmius at 10:07 AM
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