14 Comments

1. Lifeofthemind:

Sheesh, I linked to the Reuters article on the Big Anti-American protest by Sadr’s minions and it went straight into moderation.

Iran is patient but they have lined up many chess pieces. In ten years we may get reports about how close they were to collapsing, such reports came out of Vietnam after America gave up. Now they can smell victory and the pawns are starting to move.

Apr 9, 2009 - 5:58 am 2. anton:

How is it that none of this came up in the MSM? Sadr City is quiet? and almost a survivable place to live?

I wonder if I could get Totten to come to Detroit, I am sure he has the brass but the insurance costs might be too high. I was downtown the other day and it looked far worse than those shots of Kirkuk.

Keep up the great work Mike!

Apr 9, 2009 - 8:40 am 3. Mark:

Great story from Totten, especially about the sewers in Sadr City. Real boots on the ground reporting.

Bush lied, people . . . darn, that was such a handy slogan.

Apr 9, 2009 - 8:41 am 4. Habu:

….and behind it….the hand of Iran. Always return to first principles.

Who is continuing the financing theo fomenting of unrest in the ME? It always come from or through Iran …. and yet our current Resident in the WH is pressuring Israel to “trust us” , defer your safety for our empty promises.

Only a fool would trust that promise and BeBe is no fool.

Apr 9, 2009 - 9:17 am 5. Habu:

2. anton

and I understand that Dearbornstan is about to claim independence and initiate sharia law.

Apr 9, 2009 - 9:19 am 6. JWT:

Hillary thinks the piracy/hostage crisis is an occasion for merriment, and Obama is voting present.

Do any of our Special Forces guys have any jurisdiction, not on the high seas, but in WDC?

Apr 9, 2009 - 9:53 am 7. NahnCee:

Read it. No mention of Mookie — is he still in Iran or where has he hunkered down?

I keep wondering how much Iran has spent on all these various little engagements it’s involved in. If the American economy is pinched and hurting, how on earth can Iran afford to keep up its activities of funding terrorism all over the world and building illegal nukes?

Apr 9, 2009 - 11:03 am 8. Lifeofthemind:

Mark,
… the sewers in Sadr City. Real boots on the ground reporting.
A job for Special Correspondent Joe the Plumber or Ed Norton?

Apr 9, 2009 - 11:04 am 9. Lifeofthemind:

Nahncee,
That is why they need Obama’s insane efforts to raise the price of energy. He is acting in their interest. Also they have struck deals with both China, for the natural gas fields, and with Russia, to make life hell for America. As I said above they must be near the brink, if Obama had lost the Mullahs would be just about looking for jobs in Western colleges by now.

Apr 9, 2009 - 11:10 am 10. Jamie Irons:

Michael Totten’s work is invaluable. I have tried to support it in a modest way.

What impresses me more than anything is the sheer, brilliant, infinitely flexible and adaptable competence of our military.

Jamie Irons

Apr 9, 2009 - 11:36 am 11. wretchard:

In response to popular demand, I’ve activated a Wordpress feature that will enable users, for a limited time only, to edit their comments. You have five minutes after posting in which to use the feature, after which it becomes graven in stone.

Apr 9, 2009 - 3:04 pm 12. Jamie Irons:

Darn!

The window has closed!

I was going to say…

Well, I stand by my original statement.

(I would have made a very poor politician.)

Jamie Irons

Apr 9, 2009 - 3:32 pm 13. Wadeusaf:

Of all that is told in the report this still causes me to worry about the confluence of influences in the rest of Sadr City.

“Mahdi Army senior leaders fled as soon as they lost their funding, resources, and territory in and around the market. Some went to Iran. Others went into hiding somewhere else in Iraq. They wanted to get back in, but they couldn’t. So they made a face-saving deal with the government. They “agreed” to stay out of Sadr City entirely as long as American soldiers stayed on the south side of the Gold Wall.”

And if the Americans has said no to the deal? What then. Would the Iraqis have been able to perform as well in Sadr City as they did in Basra only without US advisers and limited air support? My guess is that yes they would have done so. The cost would have been heavier for both sides however, so I am guessing both Malaki and the Madhi army breathed easier with the demarcation of US V Iraqi AOs. Is there another take on this that purports more Iranian influence?

The contrast with Beirut should not be lost on US forces, or pols, for that matter, because the terror sponsoring competition between Saddam and the Mullahs would have intensified had we not invaded. But so too would opportunities to cooperate. Very interesting ideas popping out of the piece.

Apr 9, 2009 - 4:12 pm 14. NahnCee:

Just read a story that the Iraqi “government” has requested the return of Saddam’s rifle which was tracked down in an Army installation in the United States.

And we’re evidently going to send it back.

I wonder if they also had the Islamic gonads to ask for the Saddam pistol back that Dubya received … and if Dubya has it on the ranch in Crawford or if he left it behind for President Pantywaist to toss out.

Apr 10, 2009 - 6:00 pm

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