How’s That Civil War Going?
Building on the wonderful results for his “72-hour or else” threat, the BBC reports that Iraq extends militiamen deadline
Iraq’s government has extended by 10 days a deadline for Shia militiamen fighting troops in the southern city of Basra to hand over their weapons.
More than 130 people have been killed and 350 injured since a clampdown on militias began in Basra on Tuesday.
US-led forces joined the battle for the first time overnight, bombing Shia positions, the UK military said.
Parliament called an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis, which has also brought a three-day curfew in Baghdad.
But just 54 MPs out of 275 managed to get inside the fortified Green Zone to attend the session, because it was under fresh bombardment from mortars and rockets.
‘Window of opportunity’
On Friday one of the missiles hit Iraqi Vice-President Tareq Hashemi’s offices, killing at least one guard.
A statement from Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s office read: “All those who have heavy and intermediate weapons are to deliver them to security sites and they will be rewarded financially. This will start from 28 March to 8 April.”
No reason was given for the deadline extension.
You have to wonder if there’s a collection of the “Get Smart” TV series, dubbed in Arabic, in the Green Zone. “You don’t believe 72 hours – how about 10 days?”
There’s still another pipeline that can be blown up, and we all know how effective bombing a city to fight insurgents is…in creating insurgents. This is what you get when you put the “expert” on counter-insurgency in charge.
2 comments
Is this the beginning of the fall of Basra?
This is Iraqi politics. “Fighting for a spot on the ballot” is not a metaphor in Iraq.
Sadrists didn’t contest the last election and Basra is being run by ISCI loyalists. The Sadrists intend to run this October, and the ISCI is attempting to push them out of the district.
No one can afford to do to Basra what was done to Fallujah because of the oil exports.
Al-Malaki was crazy to attack the Sadrists, because of what’s happening in the other Sadrist stronghold, Baghdad. It does him no good to gain a temporary win over the Madhi Army in Basra, if he loses the capital.
If al Sadr declares an end to the ceasefire, all hell breaks loose in Shi’ia areas. The ISCI waited out the Iran-Iraq War and Saddam’s rule in Iran, while al Sadr stayed in Iraq. A lot of people respect that. The current Iraqi government has ties to Iran, and a lot of Iraqis don’t like that.
This is politics Iraqi style, and the US is in the middle.