Comments on: Are Sadr and al-Qaeda Teaming Up in Iraq? http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:57:24 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: J.J. Sefton http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/comment-page-1/#comment-34665 J.J. Sefton Thu, 01 May 2008 19:01:45 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-34665 Please, I'm begging you. Stop calling him "Mookie." It demeans Mookie Wilson and is just plain idiotic. As for the election, how about a surprise Surge Redux? Just a thought. Please, I’m begging you. Stop calling him “Mookie.” It demeans Mookie Wilson and is just plain idiotic.

As for the election, how about a surprise Surge Redux? Just a thought.

]]> By: JOHN http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/comment-page-1/#comment-34658 JOHN Thu, 01 May 2008 18:48:29 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-34658 DB I agree, Tet is the perfect example. The North Vietnamese army was on the verge of collapse after Tet but we (THE DEMOCRATES) decided to pull out. The South Vietnamese army was able to hold their own until the Democratic Congress pulled the funds and they fell. Since then that scenario has been taught from Baghdad to Tehran to Moscow. We have to win this. If we want to call ourselves a SUPERPOWER then we better act like one. DB
I agree, Tet is the perfect example. The North Vietnamese army was on the verge of collapse after Tet but we (THE DEMOCRATES) decided to pull out. The South Vietnamese army was able to hold their own until the Democratic Congress pulled the funds and they fell. Since then that scenario has been taught from Baghdad to Tehran to Moscow. We have to win this. If we want to call ourselves a SUPERPOWER then we better act like one.

]]> By: Pros and Cons » News of war and rumors of war http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/comment-page-1/#comment-34386 Pros and Cons » News of war and rumors of war Thu, 01 May 2008 03:37:29 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-34386 [...] as Mahdists and Sunni insurgents resume their cooperation that was at best interrupted after the first seige of Fallujah and the battle of the graveyard in Najaf (I’d forgotten the second). Syria is apparently the facilitator. Let’s reward it by [...] [...] as Mahdists and Sunni insurgents resume their cooperation that was at best interrupted after the first seige of Fallujah and the battle of the graveyard in Najaf (I’d forgotten the second). Syria is apparently the facilitator. Let’s reward it by [...]

]]> By: Chivalrous1_us http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/comment-page-1/#comment-33909 Chivalrous1_us Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:58:07 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-33909 I hope they're teaming up. Easier to kill them both then. I'm not a dolt, I know they're amorphous entities, but hey. Operationally, if they have indeed merged, then a central basis of coordination hence a single "head" to lop off, to borrow their methodological term. I hope they’re teaming up.
Easier to kill them both then. I’m not a dolt, I know they’re amorphous entities, but hey.
Operationally, if they have indeed merged, then a central basis of coordination hence a single “head” to lop off, to borrow their methodological term.

]]> By: Sadr coordinating with Al-Qaeda? >> liberal.family http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/comment-page-1/#comment-33734 Sadr coordinating with Al-Qaeda? >> liberal.family Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:49:43 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-33734 [...] coordinating with [...] [...] coordinating with [...]

]]> By: M.E. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/comment-page-1/#comment-33383 M.E. Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:59:03 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-33383 To DB: The Tet Offensive is a very good historical example. The best analysis of the events is that of Victor D. Hanson in “Carnage and Culture”. Hanson says in an article about Iraqi war (ad sensum): the situation in Iraq is completely different, but the cries of the war critics are the same. Only idiocy and malice don’t change. One can ask: why does one long for a defeat of his country while it fights against an absolutely evil force like terrorism? And why is one ready to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of human beings to satisfy his egoistic political ambitions? The US withdrawal from Iraq would mean an immense carnage of civil population like in Vietnam. So the US has responsibility for this country. That is not only a military or political question but above all moral. It is necessary not to forget also that the Islamic terrorists were disciples of our European extremists and they remain their most ardent supporters. (I don’t want to discuss here about “Islamic roots” of terrorism: it is another topic.) That is normal for the radicals, but the supporters of terrorists like Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Barak Obama represent an absolutely pathological case. In any case the fancies of these perverse individuals won’t change the course of History. Philip II said after the defeat of the Spanish Armada: “I sent my ships to fight against the English, not against the elements”. To fight against the History is like to fight against the elements. To DB:

The Tet Offensive is a very good historical example. The best analysis of the events is that of Victor D. Hanson in “Carnage and Culture”. Hanson says in an article about Iraqi war (ad sensum): the situation in Iraq is completely different, but the cries of the war critics are the same. Only idiocy and malice don’t change. One can ask: why does one long for a defeat of his country while it fights against an absolutely evil force like terrorism? And why is one ready to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of human beings to satisfy his egoistic political ambitions? The US withdrawal from Iraq would mean an immense carnage of civil population like in Vietnam. So the US has responsibility for this country. That is not only a military or political question but above all moral.
It is necessary not to forget also that the Islamic terrorists were disciples of our European extremists and they remain their most ardent supporters. (I don’t want to discuss here about “Islamic roots” of terrorism: it is another topic.) That is normal for the radicals, but the supporters of terrorists like Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Barak Obama represent an absolutely pathological case. In any case the fancies of these perverse individuals won’t change the course of History. Philip II said after the defeat of the Spanish Armada: “I sent my ships to fight against the English, not against the elements”. To fight against the History is like to fight against the elements.

]]> By: Links « I Think ^(Link) Therefore I Err http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/comment-page-1/#comment-33336 Links « I Think ^(Link) Therefore I Err Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:50:17 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-33336 [...] - Iraq the Model on Pajamas Media has an interesting post on Sadr and [...] [...] – Iraq the Model on Pajamas Media has an interesting post on Sadr and [...]

]]> By: Dave http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/comment-page-1/#comment-33311 Dave Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:34:34 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-33311 Does this make the present fights in Basra and Baghdad 'pre-emptive strikes'? Does this make the present fights in Basra and Baghdad ‘pre-emptive strikes’?

]]> By: DB http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/comment-page-1/#comment-33159 DB Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:07:38 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-33159 What this puts me in mind of is the Tet Offensive of early 1968. That strategy, while not militarily successful, became a rallying cry for those in the US who didn't believe there was "light at the end of the tunnel," as Westmorland thought. Many Americans began to see the North Vietnamese not as a nearly beaten foe, but as an army capable of organization and logistics. In that sense, the Tet Offensive suceeded politically by fomenting dissent in the US. This despite the fact that the North was depleted by the simultaneous attacks and probably couldn't have repeated them. It's possible that the shock of an organized offensive by al-Sadr and al-Qaeda in Iraq would call for more cries for US withdrawal, even if that offensive isn't ultimately successful. It remains to be seen if they coordinate their efforts and if we can learn from the lessons of Tet. What this puts me in mind of is the Tet Offensive of early 1968. That strategy, while not militarily successful, became a rallying cry for those in the US who didn’t believe there was “light at the end of the tunnel,” as Westmorland thought. Many Americans began to see the North Vietnamese not as a nearly beaten foe, but as an army capable of organization and logistics. In that sense, the Tet Offensive suceeded politically by fomenting dissent in the US. This despite the fact that the North was depleted by the simultaneous attacks and probably couldn’t have repeated them.

It’s possible that the shock of an organized offensive by al-Sadr and al-Qaeda in Iraq would call for more cries for US withdrawal, even if that offensive isn’t ultimately successful. It remains to be seen if they coordinate their efforts and if we can learn from the lessons of Tet.

]]> By: M.E. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/comment-page-1/#comment-33080 M.E. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:41:42 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-33080 The negotiations between Muqtada al-Sadr and al-Qaeda remind of a classical story where two rival Mafia gangs make a pact and violate it immediately afterwards. But in this specific case al-Sadr is not a part to negotiate, because, as Michael Ledeen writes “all this attention to Moqtadah is at odds with his actual behaviour: he long since abandoned the battlefield. Missing from Iraq for many months, he recently resurfaced with the surprising announcement that he had gone to Iran to devote himself to religious. The Iranians had fired him, and they restructured the Mahdi Army into smaller, more autonomous groups. The recent violence came from the new units, headed by Iranian officers, agents, and recruits who, Tehran hoped, are not well known to Coalition and Iraqi military intelligence”. It is logical that Syrian fascists and Iranian mullahs are making all possible efforts to create chaos in Iraq: democratic Iraq means for them the end of their hateful dictatorships. On the other part, chaos is the natural state for this kind of regimes. Do remember the former Soviet Union that promoted and financed the wars and the terrorist guerrillas in all points of the World. The communist rulers wasted the national resources in adverse activities bringing to every country, they arrived, only misery and destruction. So the negotiations between Al-Sadr and Abu Ayyub are clear indications of the extreme weakness of these two terrorist groups (if not of complete impotence). The value of their “threats” is the same of that of two animals which menace one another with terrible cries in hope that other will escape without fighting. The negotiations between Muqtada al-Sadr and al-Qaeda remind of a classical story where two rival Mafia gangs make a pact and violate it immediately afterwards. But in this specific case al-Sadr is not a part to negotiate, because, as Michael Ledeen writes “all this attention to Moqtadah is at odds with his actual behaviour: he long since abandoned the battlefield. Missing from Iraq for many months, he recently resurfaced with the surprising announcement that he had gone to Iran to devote himself to religious. The Iranians had fired him, and they restructured the Mahdi Army into smaller, more autonomous groups. The recent violence came from the new units, headed by Iranian officers, agents, and recruits who, Tehran hoped, are not well known to Coalition and Iraqi military intelligence”. It is logical that Syrian fascists and Iranian mullahs are making all possible efforts to create chaos in Iraq: democratic Iraq means for them the end of their hateful dictatorships. On the other part, chaos is the natural state for this kind of regimes. Do remember the former Soviet Union that promoted and financed the wars and the terrorist guerrillas in all points of the World. The communist rulers wasted the national resources in adverse activities bringing to every country, they arrived, only misery and destruction. So the negotiations between Al-Sadr and Abu Ayyub are clear indications of the extreme weakness of these two terrorist groups (if not of complete impotence). The value of their “threats” is the same of that of two animals which menace one another with terrible cries in hope that other will escape without fighting.

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