One can only hope. Much more at the link, so be sure to read it all;
Two Shiite militia commanders said Thursday that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has stopped protecting radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Madhi Army under pressure from Washington, while the fighters described themselves as under seige in their Sadr City stronghold.
Their account of an organization now fighting for its very existence could represent a tactical and propaganda feint, but there was mounting evidence the militia is increasingly off balance and has ordered its gunmen to melt back into the population. To avoid capture, commanders report no longer using cell phones and fighters are removing their black uniforms and hiding their weapons during the day.
Related: Richard Miniter (Jan 16);
The apparent evacuation of Baghdad by al Qaeda forces comes from direct orders issued by al-Masri, the former soldier who took control of the Iraqi wing of al Qaeda following the June 2006 bombing death of Zarqawi.
Initially, the intelligence officer informed Pajamas, the Baghdad-based AQ fighters did not want to leave. Al-Masri had to send unequivocal orders for their retreat, adding that one of the lessons from the Fallujah campaign was that Americans have learned how to prevail in house-to-house fighting. Masri said that remaining in Baghdad was a ‘no-win situation’ for the terrorists.
“In more than ten years of reading al Qaeda intercepts, I’ve never seen language like this,” the intelligence officer said. Usually, al Qaeda communications are full of bravado and false confidence, he added.
Al-Masri’s evacuation order – assuming that it is authentic – reveals that al Qaeda in Iraq leader has a good grasp of a tactical situation. “He is far more formidable than Zarqawi was,” the intelligence officer said, because of his training at Soviet special warfare schools.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) launches its own counter-offensive against a fictional television series.
See also – Michelle Malkin is back from Iraq.
Anybody who watched A&E’s excellent series, courtesy of the BBC, “MI-5″ can relate to what Fox/”24” is going through. MI-5 has disappeared from A&E’s schedule just as the new series was beginning. One suspects it has more to do with the ongoing theme of Islamofascism/terrorism that is plaguing the UK today and probable paranoia at offending certain ethnic communities among A&E viewers. Shame, really. But entirely predictable. Will CBC pull Little Mosque if we complain about how non-Muslims are portrayed as Islamaphobic? Doubt it.
First, if we are discussing the ‘fictional’ representation of Muslims on TV – and CAIR are opposed to the TV show 24’s representation of Muslims- then, shouldn’t we also insist that CAIR publicly condemn the equally fictional representation of non-Muslims, the West, Jews, etc – made by the various imams preaching in the mosques?
As for the Sunni and Shiite tribal factions in Iraq and the ME – this is something vital, but something that the ME has to work through. They have to move out of defining and operating their society within the most primitive defintion of the group – kinship bonds.
Their population is simply too large for the primitive mode of kinship organization. And – an industrial economy can’t work that way; it has to enable indirect and networked connections.
There are two good places for people like Mucktada al-Sadr, al-masri and Zaqawi: Either hell or the Loony bin. Zaqawi is probably in hell I bet, but there are more than likely are still more like him that are still causing trouble. The Viet Cong in the ‘Nam at least was unified and able to mount an effective attack against the Americans, but these Muslim losers spend just as must time fighting amongst themselves as they do fighting us “infidel dogs”. We may have an easier time defeating these maniacs than what the media wants us to think.
“The overwhelming impression you get is fear and hatred for Muslims,” said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. She said Thursday she was distressed by this season’s premiere. “After watching that show, I was afraid to go to the grocery store because I wasn’t sure the person next to me would be able to differentiate between fiction and reality.”
There go the hissing snakes at the American Muslim terrorist organisation CAIR again. Attempting to position themselves as victims, although no crime against them has been commited. Unlike the crimes their kind commit everday.
“I was afraid to go to the grocery store.” Why? somebody might spot your religion? What a pile of crap – relgion is now a skin colour.
“I wasn’t sure the person next to me would be able to differentiate between fiction and reality.” Whoa. How about the person next to her differentiating between the fiction of a moderate Muslim and the reality of a suicide bomber?
That might be a little harsh. But these types of people playing the victim card against us, rather than taking a stand against their co-religionists is becoming tiresome, if not deceiptful.
Lest we forget:
Islamofascists kill more people in one year than the Inquisition did in 350 years.
Islamofascists kill more people in one day than the KKK did period.
Islamofascists killed more civilians in two hours on 9/11 than 36 years of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland
Oh, and I almost forgot. Islamofascists killed:
80 million Hindus in India (total genocide estimate). 3 million Hindus in East Pakistan (1971-73). 1.5 million Armenians (early 20th century). 1.2 million Europeans and Americans either murdered or brought into slavery (early 18th to early 19th century). And untold millions of other ‘Kaffirs.’
And they still commit the most heinous murders everyday, even chopping off the heads of defenceless school children.
And we see it on the news every freakin’ day – as opposed to ’24’ which is only a one hour episode, once a week, for 20 weeks.
Boohoo. I feel real bad for them.
Hot on the heels of last month’s vaporisation of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani… these latest
captures will no doubt have an effect on the bad guys morale.
I imagine the two prisoners will also be doing their best to please their Afghani interrogators.
I know I would be. If you’re being interrogated by Afghan Intelligence, chances are you’d confess
to shooting JFK from the grassy knoll.