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| Iraq | |
| Gearing Up for a Push in Amara | |
| 2008-06-16 | |
| In an operation with military and political objectives, the Iraqi Army continued to assemble troops in and around the southern city of Amara on Sunday. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki offered an amnesty to militants in the city who were willing to surrender, and he also offered to buy back heavy weapons from militia fighters. Similar offers in the past few months have presaged military operations against Shiite or Sunni militias in Basra, the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul. As in Basra and Sadr City, Amara is dominated by the movement of the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. Mr. MalikiÂ’s government has appeared eager to crush at least Mr. SadrÂ’s militia, if not his movement. With provincial elections scheduled for the fall, both the government and Mr. Sadr also appeared to be maneuvering for political advantage. On Friday, Mr. Sadr announced that he was separating the political and military wings of his movement, apparently in anticipation of a proposal, expected to be approved this month, that would bar parties or movements with armed wings from participating in the provincial elections. On Sunday, a senior aide to Mr. Sadr said that candidates supporting Mr. Sadr would run in the fall elections, but as independents or with other political parties, rather than under the clericÂ’s banner. The government of Mr. Maliki also seemed to have made significant political calculations in apparently selecting Amara as the site of its next military operation. They say it like it's a bad thing. With Iraqi soldiers setting up checkpoints and preparing to take control of the city, Mr. Maliki could be hoping to weaken, at least temporarily Amara is the capital of Maysan Province, the only province in Iraq where the local government is run by politicians aligned with Mr. Sadr. Mr. SadrÂ’s militia, the Mahdi Army, has also become ensconced in Amara, a city in a rural, marshy region of southern Iraq along the Iranian border, where Iraqi officials say that a poisonous blend of militia lawlessness and weapons smuggling from Iran has created a chaotic situation.
Tune in tomorrow for the next installment! Will the cops fold again? Will Sadr triumph again? Can anyone stop him, short of Obama the Magnificent? | |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #1 Bobby, for the NYT, whenever the Iraqi government seems to be making good, rational decisions, it is by definition either a bad thing or a very bad thing. I thought that this was taught in the class, MSM 101. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2008-06-16 14:24 |