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« Stupid Occupation Tricks | Main | Dark Hours » April 05, 2004Opportunity KnocksZeyad reports that Shiite followers of Muqtada al-Sadr may be attempting a coup, a claim backed up by this FoxNews report of fighting in Baghdad and Basra. While this will undoubtedly be reported as a significant setback for the Coalition, I think it could turn out to be the perfect chance for us to eliminate a troublemaker (actually many troublemakers) while further establishing ourselves as the good guys in the eyes of many Iraqis. Sadr's forces have been a concern for the Coalition for some time. He has managed to establish a pretty solid private army that we've been reluctant to address for fear of inciting Shiite violence. Well, that concern has certainly gone by the boards, so the Coalition can now wipe out the majority of Sadr's fighters with impunity. Better yet, the destruction can be spun as a good thing for all Iraqis, if it's done right. Sadr's power grab is clearly causing significant upheaval and fear among Iraq's population. Coalition forces can now step in and restore order. If they're careful to restrict themselves to wiping out Sadr's forces, and emphasize that their goal is simply restoring the peace, they should be able to kill two birds with one stone, making those parts of Iraq safe to live in again while removing one of the bigger threats to Iraq's future peace and security. Not to mention providing a valuable example to other would-be powerbrokers of the foolishness of standing up to the Coalition. We could just as easily screw this up. But we have a chance to use this problem to our advantage. Let's hope our military leaders in Iraq see it that way as well. Update: I see Perry de Havilland beat me to the punch on this. Posted at April 5, 2004 05:57 PM
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsAndrew: Within the narrow confines of our present situation in Iraq I see your point, though it is, rhetorically, a bit too "Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson" for my taste. (Note that in the context of my comparison, Gen. Turgidson is preferable to Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper. You are my blog bud after all...) But let us not forget that according to the Bush administration (read: Cheney's Posse), this wasn't supposed to happen. "welcomed with open arms" was it? And so you won't think me naive, I'll add as well that, once commited to war in Iraq, we should have known who the potential fundamentalist wackos were and isolated them long ago. I fear this is just a hint of the religious civil war to come. And if we want to ensure that an islamic fundamentalist government doen't take iover Iraq we are going to have to stick around a long time, and suffer a lot of casualties. The bloodshed from all-out civil war would make life under Saddam seem like a picnic. My guess is that Bush will have abandond Iraq long before that happens. I hope I'm wrong. Posted by: Brian Linse at April 6, 2004 04:47 AM |
