Chris Floyd: Update on the Civil War Surge in Iraq

[babylonsister]

Update on the Civil War Surge in Iraq
Saturday, 29 March 2008


Yesterday we saw the complete unravelling of the lie that the assault on Basra is strictly an all-Iraqi operation, with the Baghdad government imposing its authority on "criminal gangs" in the port city. American warplanes joined in the attack yesterday, dive-bombing residential areas. Nor were these U.S. operations confined to Basra; American planes struck several cities throughout the country, with a heavy concentration in the Sadr City quadrants of Baghdad. (For more, see the earlier post, Operation Permanent Presence: The Civil War "Surge" in Iraq.)

Also gone is the obvious lie that the operation has anything to do with "criminal gangs" in a single city. The target is clearly the forces of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of the most powerful and popular political force in Iraq. American officials acknowledged as much with their assertions of a full-scale engagement with "the enemy" in Sadr City, the stronghold of the Sadr movement. And the bombing raids across the country -- again, on Sadr forces -- only underscore the true target of the operation. From the Guardian:

As protests spread across Iraq, US aircraft also attacked Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, killing at least five civilians, according to Iraqi police and hospitals.

"There have been engagements going on in and around Sadr City. We've engaged the enemy with artillery, we've engaged the enemy with aircraft, we've engaged the enemy with direct fire," Major Mark Cheadle, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said later.

Defying a curfew, protesters again attacked the US-protected Green Zone in the capital with mortars and rockets. Elsewhere at least 22 people, including six civilians, were killed in fierce fighting in the southern cities of Mahmoudiya, Nasiriya - now held by elements of Sadr's Mahdi army - and Kut, according to reports from police and army officials cited by news agencies.


more...

http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1470/135/

[frogcycle]

1. chilling line:

"protesters again attacked ... with mortars and rockets"

protestors? with protestors like that, who needs enemies?