Sadr Army is called top threat in Iraq

[rodeodance]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usiraq19dec19,1,2848223.story?coll=la-headlines-world
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: MILITIA THREAT; WHITE HOUSE WORD WATCH


Sadr Army is called top threat in Iraq

A Pentagon report cites the danger of the Shiite cleric's militia.
By Julian E. Barnes
Times Staff Writer

December 19, 2006

WASHINGTON — Armed militiamen affiliated with radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr pose the gravest danger to the security and stability of Iraq, surpassing Sunni Arab insurgents and Al Qaeda terrorists, a new Defense Department report to Congress says.

The finding represents the military's strongest characterization of the danger posed by Sadr and is among the conclusions of a quarterly report to Congress that chronicles the instability in Iraq and record level of sectarian violence.

In the last three months, the number of attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops and Iraqi civilians rose 22%, and the number of U.S. casualties grew 32%, the Pentagon assessment says.

As attacks have risen, the confidence of the Iraqi people has fallen, with fewer saying in surveys that they thought their government could protect them and more agreeing that civil war was likely.

The conclusion that Sadr-related militiamen posed the chief threat to the country's security came after the U.S. military had complained for months that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite, had been unable to address armed Shiite groups and had obstructed American efforts to confront Sadr.......

[rodeodance]

1. says that this disses Bush's claim that al-quida is the worst threat!!

.....The conclusion that Sadr-related militiamen posed the chief threat to the country's security came after the U.S. military had complained for months that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite, had been unable to address armed Shiite groups and had obstructed American efforts to confront Sadr.

It also cast new light on a deteriorating situation that President Bush continued to blame in large part on Al Qaeda.

................

[JCMach1]

2. Taking sides in the Civil War-- Not only that, by ignoring Sadr we are siding with the pro-Iranian

Shia...

Bush is figuring out new and inventive ways to fark the situation more in Iraq.

[rodeodance]

3. report also says training the army in Iraq is a failure.

"The failure of the government to implement concrete actions in these areas has contributed to a situation in which, as of October 2006, there were more Iraqis who expressed a lack of confidence in their government's ability to improve the situation than there were in July 2006," the report says.

The report says the government has nearly reached its original goal of training 325,000 security personnel but that 45,000 police and army troops have been killed or wounded or have quit.

It also notes that a third of the active force is on approved leave at any time. More disturbing, the desertion rate of Iraqi soldiers increases to more than 50% when Iraqi units are deployed outside their areas of operation.

The Iraqi government has been unable to fulfill its promise to move extra battalions to Baghdad, and American commanders in the capital have cited the lack of forces as one reason death squads from warring sects have operated unchecked.

The failure of a growing number of Iraqi security personnel to contain the violence suggests that, in the short term, the U.S. strategy of replacing American troops with Iraqi security forces has not worked.

[Botany]

5. Nice Math

325,000 - 45,000 = 280,000

280,000 x .66 = 184,800

184,800 x .5 = 92,400 Iraqi Troops

"As they stand up we will stand down."

[DixieBlue]

10. Just remember you don't have their math ...

Their math is the good math, don't forget.

[acmavm]

4. So, this is a new idea, that a Shi-ite theocrat would pose a

'threat' to all their grandoise plans for Iraq? No one thought of this before Shock and Awe?

My memory must be faulty because not only do I remember exactly this sitation being predicted but I also remember that the clowns who instigated this 'cakewalk' saying that they would NEVER allow a religious (Islam) based government.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Isn't the issue here

that Sadr is regarded , at present and over the past year or so , as being the most likely future ruler of Iraq much to Shrub's distaste.

[saigon68]

8. REMEMBER THIS PIECE OF CRAP

ITS BREMER'S FLAG KIDS THEY IMMEDIATELY TRASHED IT

[sinkingfeeling]

7. OK, let me get this straight. Shiites make up the majority of Iraqis and were oppressed by

Saddam, a Sunni. So, according to Idiot Son, we went into Iraq to 'liberate the Iraqis' (Shiites). And now they're our chief 'enemy'? The Sunni's just want the US out of their country? And al Qaeda aren't the problem? So who the hell our we going to have a 'victory' over? Will someone ever ask Idiot Boy that question?

[DixieBlue]

9. I think this is coming a little late ...

As far as I'm concerned they should've been the #1 worry as soon as the U.S. toppled Saddam. He's been working underground for years.

The blunders just keep piling up.

[maxsolomon]

11. i could have told president dumbass this 3 years ago

nice work, pentagon. i have a BFA in painting. you have west point graduates & all the resources of the federal government at your disposal, and it took you 3 years of war to figure it out?

more like 3 years to admit it.

[rodeodance]

12. Pentagon: Militia more dangerous than al Qaeda in Iraq ---cnn

Pentagon: Militia more dangerous than al Qaeda in Iraq
POSTED: 8:59 a.m. EST, December 19, 2006

Story Highlights
• NEW: Gunmen steal nearly a million dollars outside Iraqi bank
• NEW: U.S. Marine, two insurgents killed in Iraq
• Mehdi Army replaces al Qaeda as biggest danger, Pentagon finds
• Pentagon: Insurgent, sectarian militia attacks up 22 percent in last three months


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army has replaced al Qaeda in Iraq as "the most dangerous accelerant" of the sectarian violence plaguing Iraq for nearly a year, according to a Pentagon report.

Attacks by Iraqi insurgents and sectarian militias jumped 22 percent from mid-August to mid-November, and Iraqi civilians suffered the bulk of casualties, according to the quarterly report released on Monday.

The average number of attacks reported each week jumped during that period from nearly 800 to almost 1,000, the report said. (Watch how insurgent and sectarian attacks have become a staple of Iraqi civilian life Video)

The two most prominent militias -- the Mehdi Army and the Badr Organization -- are armed wings of Shiite political parties whose support is crucial to the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. ...............

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/19/iraq.main/index.html?section=cnn_topstories&eref=yahoo

[underpants]

13. Please see LBN rules. This article must be at least 3 years old

They were saying exactly the same thing right after Saddam was "Captured"