Gareth Porter: Iraqi rogues and a false proxy war (The false Petraeus narrative)

[seafan]

The Bush Propaganda Machine must be stopped. The same applies to the The Bush Machine.



General David Petraeus
(Susan Walsh / Associated Press)


Iraqi rogues and a false proxy war

By Gareth Porter
Asia Times

April 9, 2008

WASHINGTON - A key objective of the Congressional testimony by General David Petraeus this week will be to defend the George W Bush administration's strategic political line that it is fighting an Iranian "proxy war" in Iraq.
Based on preliminary indications of his spin on the surprisingly effective armed resistance to the joint United States-Iraqi "Operation Knights Assault" in the Shi'ite-dominated southern city of Basra, Petraeus will testify that it was caused by Iran through a group of rogue militiamen who had split from Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and came under Iranian control.

But the US military's contention that "rogue elements" have been carrying out the resistance to coalition forces was refuted by Muqtada himself in an interview with al-Jazeera aired on March 29 in which he called for the release from US detention of the individual previously identified by Petraeus as the head of the alleged breakaway faction.
The idea of Iranian-backed "rogue" Shi'ite militia groups undermining Muqtada's efforts to pursue a more moderate course was introduced by the US military command in early 2007. These alleged Iranian proxies were called "special groups" - a term that came not from Iran or the Shi'ites themselves but from the Bush administration. ..... A pro-war military blogger named Bill Roggio, who maintains close relations with the US command in Baghdad, revealed in February 2007 that the real purpose of the line about Iranian-controlled "special groups" was to facilitate Petraeus's strategy of dividing the Mahdi Army. "The 'rogue element' narrative provides Mahdi Army fighters and commanders an 'out'," wrote Roggio. A Mahdi Army unit commander could either "choose to oppose the government and be targeted", he observed, "or step aside and join the political process".

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An article by neo-conservative military historian Kimberly Kagan in the Wall Street Journal on April 3 suggests, however, that Petraeus has slightly reformulated the proxy war line in light of the obvious role played by the Mahdi Army itself in limiting the advance of the US-Iraqi operation.
Kagan is married to Fred Kagan, one of the main author's of Bush's "surge" policy, and is a full member of the administration's team for conveying its political-military thinking to the elite public. Her article evidently reflects conversations with Petraeus and other officials in Baghdad during the previous week.

Kagan, unlike Crocker on March 26, makes no effort to deny that the Mahdi Army itself was fully involved in the armed resistance in Basra, Baghdad and elsewhere. But she claims that it was "special groups" - not the Sadrists - who "coordinated the unrest and attacks of the regular Mahdi Army in the capital and provinces".
Furthermore, Kagan describes the Mahdi Army as "a reserve from which the special groups can and will draw in crisis". And Muqtada himself is dismissed as ultimately a figurehead. "For all of his nationalist rhetoric," writes Kagan, "Mr Sadr is evidently not in control of his movement ..."
The new version of the proxy war narrative still attributes ultimate control over the most powerful Shi'ite political-military force in the country to the shadowy "special groups".

But in an interview with al-Jazeera taped just before the Basra operation was launched and broadcast on March 29, Muqtada demanded the release of Khazali, whom Petraeus had identified as the head of the alleged "special group" that had broken away from Muqtada, from US custody.
That confirms the earlier indications that Khazali was never involved in a breakaway faction, and that what the US command refers to as "Iranian-backed special groups" never existed.
The March 30 story by McClatchy's Leila Fadel on the ending of the Basra crisis shows that Iran's real strategy in Iraq bears no resemblance to the one portrayed in the US proxy war narrative. Fadel reported that Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Quds (Jerusalem) brigades of the IRGC, brokered a ceasefire with Muqtada after representatives of the Shi'ite parties now supporting the Maliki government traveled secretly to Qom, Iran on March 29-30, to ask for his intervention.
Suleimani's role in reducing the violence in Basra underlines the reality that Iranian power in Shi'ite Iraq is based on its having worked with and provided assistance to all the Shi'ite parties and factions. Iran's determination to stay on good terms with all the Shi'ite factions has made it the primary arbiter of conflicts among them.

Iran has no reason to look for a small splinter group to advance its interests when it already enjoys a relationship of strategic cooperation with the government itself.

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The interest of the Bush administration in keeping the proxy war line alive has nothing to do with Iraqi realities, however. As a strategic weapon for justifying the administration's policies toward both Iraq and Iran, the theme of Iranian interference through "special groups" is bound to be a central thread in the testimony by both Petraeus and Crocker.

From today's http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-petraeus9apr09,1,4929386.story?page=2">LA Times, April 8, 2008:

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Petraeus addressed the recent violence in Basra several times in his opening statement. The violence in Basra, Petraeus said, had increased concern among Iraqis about the growing influence of Iran.

"The hand of Iran was very clear in recent weeks," Petraeus said.

Crocker argued that Iran was pursuing a strategy in Iraq similar to what it does in Lebanon, where it backs Hezbollah and other militant Shiite groups. Iran is trying to co-opt Shiite groups in Iraq and would push harder in the absence of a U.S. presence.

Periods of reduced violence have made it easier for U.S. officials to discern Iran's role in arming extremist groups, Crocker said.

Crocker noted that Iran had condemned recent attacks on the green zone and said that he believes Iran is re-thinking its role in Iraq.

Petraeus said that Iranian-backed Shiite militants, called "special groups" by the Americans, were destabilizing the country.

"Unchecked," Petraeus said, "the special groups pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq."

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(Matthew Cavanaugh / EPA)