Sadr Steps Into The Fray Once Again

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Gotta give props to al-Sadr, he has once again made a pathetic attempt to remain politically relevant:

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is establishing a new fighting force to battle U.S.-led troops in Iraq, he said in a letter read in Iraqi mosques Friday.

Al-Sadr’s letter said that “the resistance will be exclusively conducted by only one group. This new group will be defined soon by me.”

I’m sure this has nothing to do with it huh? (via The Long War Journal)

Demonstrations called for by Sadr have gone from the tens of thousands to about 1500 in a little under a months time. Looks to me the guy is upset at his waning influence and now wants to get back into the limelight. Bill Roggio:

Sadr’s open defiance may change the calculus on how the US military and the Iraqi government deal with the Sadrist movement and the Mahdi Army. The US military has long attempted to separate Muqtada al Sadr and the Mahdi Army from what it labels the “Special Groups” criminal elements supported by Iran’s Qods Force. This was done in an attempt to provide Sadr and the less radical elements of his followers and opportunity to join the political process while US and Iraqi troops target the extremist elements of the Mahdi Army.

Along with this news is the news that the Iraqi army have begun operations against Mahdi elements on the southern border of Maysan which is near the Iranian border. They have begun to seal the border and are clearing out the capitol of Maysan, Amarah, which is where it is believed the majority of Mahdi leadership fled to after their humilating defeat in Sadr city and Basra.

Bill Roggio:

Iraqi security forces established checkpoints along the entrances to the province, and have closed down the border crossing to Iran at Al Sheeb, Voices of Iraq reported. Iraqi forces are also patrolling inside Amarah. “Joint patrol vehicles have also been deployed in downtown Amarah city, particularly in the areas of Hitteen, Al Urouba, Maghraba and Al Batira Street,” a security source told Voices of Iraq.

The value of Maysan?

Maysan province is a strategic link for the Ramazan Corps, the Iranian military command set up by Qods Force to direct operations inside Iraq. Amarah serves as the Qods Force / Ramazan Corps forward command and control center inside Iraq as well as one of the major distribution points for weapons in southern Iraq.

And d-day hasn’t even arrived yet:

“The decision to undertake the operation has been taken, but the zero hour has not been set yet,” Adel al-Muhoudir, governor of Maysan province, told Reuters.

Iraqi tanks were seen on major streets in Amara. Iraqi security forces patrolled and many checkpoints had been set up in the city.

And to think it was not that long ago that the MSM and the left we’re calling these operations a defeat for the Iraqi government. The exact opposite has occured. The American trained Iraqi forces have been relentless in attacking Sadr’s thugs and are now taking on the Iranian influence.

It’s become quite apparent that our military has done an excellent job in training these troops, no surprise there, and that they have come a long way.

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I’m going to repeat what I have said before:

President Bush defined VICTORY in Iraq as an Iraq that could govern itself, defend itself and be an ally in the war on terror.

Here again, just as in Basra, Sadr City and Mosul the Iraqis are showing that they can take the fight to the enemy with little U.S. help.

If this keeps up, the next President of the U.S. will be able to withdraw most of the troops and claim victory.

But it will be President Bush’s vision that got us there.