British To Withdraw from Maysan, Muthanna
Dozens Killed
The British are obviously declaring victory in southern Iraq and going home. They are in the process of handing over security to local provincial governments in Maysan and Muthanna, and heading out.
Soon the Italians will do the same in Nasiriyah. Does Diwaniyah desperately need foreign troops?
Of course, when you say you are handing over to Maysan officials, you are actually handing over to Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc controls the provincial government. And the Sadrists deploy the Mahdi Army for security, whether in official police uniform or no. Likewise, Muthanna is Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq territory, and their "security" is one way or another Badr Corps.
But, well, that is what is in Iraq. It doesn't turn out to be full of James Madisons. The British are doing the right thing. Basra doesn't need them either. The Western occupation of southern Iraq will be gone, probably by the end of the year.
There are no US troops in Kurdistan to speak of, and its security is supplied by the peshmerga or Kurdish paramilitary.
So all that is left is the US garrisons in Baghdad and the Sunni Arab heartland. Why should the Sunni Arabs be the only ones to be occupied?
The US-installed governor of Anbar province, in the Sunni Arab west, was almost killed by a huge bombing of his convoy on Tuesday. Others around him did die or were wounded. And the civil war took 30 other lives.
The Sunni Arabs rejected the new constitution almost to a person last October. They are now trying to amend it. What they want, though, is unacceptable to all the Kurds and half of the Shiites, and the way I figure it, it mostly is not going to happen. Which means more trouble, for a long time.
posted by Juan Cole @ 5/03/2006 12:35:00 AM
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4 Comments:
Could You Talk About This a Bit More?
This may be old hat to you, but to a lot of your readers, it may be something of an eye-opener:
"But, by the way, Khomeini sold oil to Israel, and Israel sold him weapons and spare parts, and put the Reagan administration up to doing the same thing. You will note that when Khomeini originally made the statement about the occupation regime over Jerusalem vanishing from the page of time, that was not front page news. In fact, secret Israeli arms shipments were arriving in Tehran as Khomeini was speaking."
"' Even during the hostage crisis in Tehran, Israel—later the United States’ partner through much of the Iran initiative—began to strike weapons deals of its own with Iran. Tel Aviv, like Washington, had a long history of selling arms to the Shah, which Tehran’s revolutionary government was willing to exploit secretly, despite its public animosity toward the state of Israel. Reportedly, the United States knew about Israeli transactions during the early 1980s but turned a blind eye."
The bolded part seems particularly shocking, and doesn't seem to be supported by most of the rest of the discussion, about what Reagan & Co. did--not too surprising, given that Reagan owed his election to the hostage-takers; of course he was willing to be nice to them. At the same time he pretended it was his threats that got the hostages out.
OK, it was no doubt much more complicated than that.
But it really would be good to have more information on Israeli contacts with Iran during the hostage crisis. It would affect some peoples' views of Israel.
The British can call for a vote of no confidence and replace Tony Blair with someone less Bush-worthy. The Italians have already voted.
Here in the US, the best we can do, apparently, is to rely on Stephen Colbert to speak truth to power. Sadly, the press ignores him, but I have a funny feeling about that just as I did when I heard there had been a break-in at Democratic National headquarters and the Democrats were not squawking like a stuck pigs.
I believe we will see Colbert's monologue much more frequently in the near future if only Hillary can figure out how to make it sound like her own words
Someone needs to start a blog composed solely of retired, conservative, old white men who offer reasoned criticism of the GWB fiasco.
Retired General William Odom today calls for immediate withdrawal. Are we any closer? In the words of the esteemed Michael Leaden, faster please.
Have you been noticing the price of gold, lately? Here's a quiz for anyone: Is gold rising or is the dollar sinking?
I have long felt that political or military events will not prevent the US from doing what it should not be doing in the Near East and in the Middle East, but that the inability to purchase fuel, metals and soldier's benefits will.
Imagine a traveler in another land who runs out of money. Now imagine four hundred thousand of them.
This will force Americans to evaluate what is necessary and to risk temporary discomfort in order to tell our deaf elected leaders that we need to withdraw and to worry about events here in the US, not out there.
The US needs to be out of Iraq now primarily because our warring there constitutes a war crime.
The US needs to be out of Iraq now, primarily from our concern, because the billions spent and the national focus wasted have the potential to weaken our nation through misdirection.
The global war on terrorism is our Magnet line. The foreign enemy threatens us through economic means. Our internal enemy threatens our Bill of Rights.
Now, will another old, white, conservative general please speak up?
Mr. Cole,
You are favorably mentioned as an expert the Democratic Party should consult in a major international relations summit that is advised for the near future in order to improve chances of removing Republicans from office in November. You are listed among other recommended experts in a document being dubbed the "Dartmouth Plan" signed by a Publius which is being circulated widely among progressive organizations and within the Democratic Party nationally. It sounds like your presence among those experts is more than justified. There is an e-mail address at the bottom of the document if you have not already received a copy and would like to request the files: Publius.for.progress@gmail.com
Dear Professor Cole
Your suggestion of the British troops leaving Basra worries me a little.
The brits will have orders not to open fire on the Iranians unless absolutely necessary.
If the Brits leave an American Division will need to move south to hold the road to Kuwait, the Faw Peninsula and the port at at Umm Kasr.
That sounds like a recipe for War by Accident to me.
by the way, today we have elections in UK. Just parish councils and county councils. But they give a big indicator of what is waiting at the next general election.
And allow us to disapprove of the Deputy Prime Minister doing a Monica with his pretty blonde secretary.
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