Petraeus hid Maliki's resistance to US troops

[maddezmom]

Petraeus hid Maliki's resistance to US troops
By Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON - General David Petraeus, in testimony before US congressional committees last week, portrayed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's late March offensive in Basra as a poorly planned effort that departed from what US officials had expected.

What Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, did not reveal is that Maliki was deliberately upsetting a Petraeus plan to put US and British forces into Basra for a months-long operation to eliminate the Mahdi Army from the city.

Petraeus referred to a plan for an operation to be carried out in Basra that he and his staff had developed with the head of the Basra Operational Command, General Mohan al-Furayji. But

Petraeus carefully dodged a question from Senator Hillary Clinton about what resources he was planning to deploy to Basra and over what length of time.

more:http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JD19Ak01.html