Dahr Jamail: Sketchy Details (martial law in Baghdad)

[Barrett808]

Yesterday Iraq’s Minister of Defense, Sadoun al-Dulaimi, announced that starting Saturday 40,000 Iraqi troops will seal Baghdad and begin to “hunt down insurgents and their weapons.” Baghdad will be divided into two main sections, east and west, and within each section there will be smaller areas of control.

There will be at least 675 checkpoints and al-Dulaimi said this is the first phase of a security crackdown that will eventually cover all of Iraq.

Keep in mind that most of Iraq has remained in a “state of emergency” since the beginning of the siege of Fallujah, on November 8th.

“We will also impose a concrete blockade around Baghdad, like a bracelet around an arm, God willing, and God be with us in our crackdown on the terrorists’ infrastructure.”

Also at the press conference was Bayan Jabor, the Minister of Interior who added, “These operations will aim at turning the government's role from defensive to offensive.”

This is really, really bad news.

The Iraqi security forces already have an extremely bad name throughout much of Baghdad. I’ve had three Iraqi doctors tell me, in different hospitals at different times, that they call the Iraqi National Guard the “dogs of the Americans.”

(more)

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000249.php

[ClintonTyree]

1. Good luck on that....

after the first few are blown to bits by suicide bombers the rest will turn tail and run. Same old, same old.

[Barrett808]

2. Worse than that, how many of these units are completely infiltrated?

This could be a remarkable opportunity for the insurgency to pull off some inside jobs.

[teryang]

3. 675 checkpoints

Concrete barriers. How long will that last? Sounds like anti Palestinian security measures. This won't help.