The problem is that the good guys the US is working with tend to have second jobs - as the bad guys. According to the McClatchy News Service, U.S. forces are unwittingly helping al Sadr's Mahdi Army:
U.S. Army commanders and enlisted men who are patrolling east Baghdad, which is home to more than half the city's population and the front line of al-Sadr's campaign to drive rival Sunni Muslims from their homes and neighborhoods, said al-Sadr's militias had heavily infiltrated the Iraqi police and army units that they've trained and armed.
"Half of them are JAM. They'll wave at us during the day and shoot at us during the night," said 1st Lt. Dan Quinn, a platoon leader in the Army's 1st Infantry Division, using the initials of the militia's Arabic name, Jaish al Mahdi. "People (in America) think it's bad, but that we control the city. That's not the way it is. They control it, and they let us drive around. It's hostile territory."
The Bush administration's plan to secure Baghdad rests on a "surge" of some 17,000 more U.S. troops to the city, many of whom will operate from small bases throughout Baghdad. Those soldiers will work to improve Iraqi security units so that American forces can hand over control of the area and withdraw to the outskirts of the city.
The problem, many soldiers said, is that the approach has been tried before and resulted only in strengthening al-Sadr and his militia.
All the Shiites have to do is tell everyone to lay low, wait for the Americans to leave, then when they leave you have a target list and within a day they'll kill every Sunni leader in the country. It'll be called the `Day of Death' or something like that," said 1st Lt. Alain Etienne, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y. "They say, `Wait, and we will be victorious.' That's what they preach. And it will be their victory."
Quinn agreed.
"Honestly, within six months of us leaving, the way Iranian clerics run the country behind the scenes, it'll be the same way here with Sadr," said Quinn, 25, of Cleveland. "He already runs our side of the river."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16600612.htm
2 comments:
According to Gwynne Dyer, the "surge" is a facade. It will put the US troops there at the 150 000 to 175 000 range. Will it be strong enough to conduct an invasion of Sadr City and destroy the Mehdi Army as the neo-cons believe is the ultimate goal to determine success in the war in Iraq? Don't think so.
The photo is one I scrounged some time back but it says it all. These are Iraqi security forces - vehicles, guns, bulletproof vests and all - but it's pretty obvious who they're working for. How can anyone expect a corrupt regime with thoroughly infiltrated security forces to deal with the Mahdi Army when they are the Mahdi Army?
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