Bloody battle for Amarah a glimpse of future

[bemildred]

Stay tuned ...

The militia headed by the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday took over the southern Iraqi city of Amarah, recently vacated by British forces, after a day of heavy fighting which left dozens killed, almost 100 injured and widespread damage to buildings.

In what is being seen as a symbolic flexing of muscle, heavily armed Mahdi Army fighters in black uniforms stormed and took over the three main police stations and flattened them with explosives.

British troops were put on standby to move back into Amarah last night as Mr Sadr's militia battles the rival Shia Badr Brigade for the control of the south and its lucrative oil fields.

Amid conflicting reports about who exactly was controlling the capital of Maysan province two companies of the Iraqi army with British "advisers" were despatched from Basra. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nour al-Maliki, sent a high-powered delegation from Baghdad to seek talks with Mr Sadr's representatives.

Independent UK

[saigon68]

1. What Civil war?

LOL </sarcasm>

[bemildred]

2. 'We have liberated Amara from the British. Basra next'

Ten days ago I sat on a mattress on the floor of a Mahdi army safe house talking to Abu Mahdi, a slim 40-year-old, bearded former Arabic teacher and low level commander in the Shia militia.

I had first encountered him in Najaf in August 2004, when the Mahdi army seized the holy city. Now he boasted of how his comrades were effectively in control of his home town, 200 miles south of Baghdad.

"As we have liberated Amara from the British, Basra is next," he said. "My men are everywhere, can you see the British anywhere? For the people in the street it's my men who rule the town."

Yesterday morning the militia loyal to the Baghdad-based cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated that fact - and the acute dillemma facing British and American military planners - in the most dramatic fashion.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1928049,00.html

[Igel]

4. I read that post (and the related article), and

loved the non-sequitur.

"As we have liberated Amara from the British, Basra is next," he said. "My men are everywhere, can you see the British anywhere? For the people in the street it's my men who rule the town."


Non-sequitur, followed by might-is-right. A two-fer, a veritable festival of fallacy (phallusy?), something seldom seen outside of American political speeches, but seldom so blatant even in America.

Geesh. Or jaish. Whichever.

[bemildred]

5. Frankly, we chucked logic and civil discourse over the side some time ago.

In Iraq, I mean. The problem is not so much whether this guy is an illiterate blowhard, as whether or not he is in control of Amara, which seems to be in doubt.

[billyoc]

3. A glimpse of the past as well.

Let's just dust off this gem and change the date: