Comments on: TAKING THE EMPTY SUIT TO THE CLEANERS

By: Doug Ross @ Journal

Doug Ross @ Journal — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 11:07:44 +0000

IDF report is declassified

The Israeli Defense Forces report on this summer’s war has just been declassified. It makes for fascinating reading. Here’s a quick, illustrated summary.

By: B.Poster

B.Poster — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 00:59:38 +0000

If this turns out to be the case, it is good that we are finally getting around to taking on Al Sadr and his Mahdi army. Our goals for Iraq should be three fold. They should be: 1.)an Iraq that is allied with the US in the GWOT, 2.) an Iraq that is stable, and 3.)an Iraq that is a representative democracy. It appears goal number 3 has been abandoned for now. In any event, goal 3 was going to be up the Iraqis and is not mission critical to us. Achieving the first two goals are vital. Clearly having Al Sadr and his Mahdi army running around is inconsistent with achieving goals one and two. He and his army must either be removed or neutrailized. If this plan works out, it would go a long way to achieving goal 2 and it may even help with goal number 1.

The broader goals need to be containing and rolling back the influence of Iran and Al Qaeda in Iraq and elsewhere in the world. Having an Iraq that is stable and allied with us in the GWOT should help us achieve the broader goals.

With all of this said there does seem to be a problem. Through out the Global War on Terror the US has trouble, at least publically, identifying its enemies. At least publically, this may not have changed. If we end up strengthening the Badr Brigade, we may end up strengthening Iran. This could leave us in a worse position than we are now.

In any event, right now we should focus on eliminating Al Sadr and his Mahdi Army. If we have to fight the Badr Brigades, we should deal with them, at that time. Obvuously we should plan for future battles and we should learn from previous battles but it is important to fight the current battle now and not the next one or the last one. I would like to think that the military commanders are competent enough to be planning ahead for a possible confrontation with the Badr Brigade.

If we are going to finally do something about Al Sadr and the Mahdi army, this is an encouraging development. It is only a small step, there remains much work to be done but it is a steop in the right direction.

By: Johnny Tremaine

Johnny Tremaine — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 00:49:33 +0000

Maliki may be getting replaced in a bloodless coup? Well at least somebody’s doing SOMETHING. Then again, we should remember that Maliki was himself a replacement for Allawi. So now we’re looking for a replacement of the replacement? It’s beginning to sound like one of those jokes: how many prospective Iraqi leaders does it take to establish peace and democracy? Ah, well. Let’s hope that something works out.

By: Nikolay

Nikolay — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 16:59:57 +0000

A win/win situation is a good thing for the US in Iraq. And this is the kind of thinking that was totally lacking from the ISG. This move is creative with definite thinking outside the box. It goes to show that there are in fact other options available to the US - options with a chance of turning the situation around relatively quickly.

Well, this, if it’s indeed American initiative, not Iraqi’s own, is back-door politics. Not a thing to be put into official report. Talabini is complaining against ISG’s contempt for Iraqi sovereignty anyway.

BTW, don’t you find it troubling that ISG is portrayed as “surrender” and “give a warm welcome to Iran & Syria” when it’s in fact exactly opposite?

By: gregdn

gregdn — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 14:34:57 +0000

It would be nice if the Iraqis could get their act together.