Iraq Update

First, we are seeing
another surge in bombings across Iraq, which should make one doubt about the claims of success with the US military surge.

Part of the problem, of course, is that Maliki is fundamentally disinterested in anything other his own very sort term sectarian power needs. First, he actively participated in ethnic cleansing, and now the only groups providing any meaningful aid to the million or so internally displaced Iraqis are the militias.

As to the conflict with Sadr, which is all about Maliki trying to gain an electoral advantage, not Iran or "lawlessness", Major General Jeffery Hammond has announced that the US military has no intention of moving any further into Sadr city, which sounds an awful lot like the start of a "Fallujah moment", when the generals declare victory and pull out.

That being said, the Iraqi troops are not waiting for a declaration of victory, they are leaving now.

The episode began when Major Sattar, the leader of an Iraqi company that had taken up positions 700 yards in front of the Americans, suddenly appeared at Company B’s field headquarters in the southern part of Sadr City.

The major’s company had replaced a more battle-hardened Iraqi unit just two days earlier, and he had been unhappy to find that he would be occupying a position to the front of the better trained and equipped Americans.

I'd be unhappy if I were told that my job was to be a speed bump too.