Iraq News (30 March)

The Good: Successful military operations are being conducted by US and Iraqi forces to target militia goons throughout Baghdad. I had to pull this off an MNF-I press release, since the American media wouldn't dare discuss targeting criminals launching rockets (which usually kill civilians BTW). The American media is far too busy writing exposes after embedding with the enemy! Before the Washington Post takes the neo-Jane Fonda route, they should probably check their moral compass and realize that they are sympathizing with a bunch of thugs that take pleasure in dumping the bodies of Sunni families into the Tigris, drilling holes and cutting the flesh off people faces, planting IEDs that usually miss their target and kill nearby civilians, etc. Ah well, the article provides for an interesting read. It's also important to understand the adverasry.

The Bad: Some Iraqi Security Forces are defecting down in Baghdad and Basra to the Mahdi Army. Why is this not surprising? The curfew on Baghdad has also been extended. That's good for conducting military operations, but pretty shitty for most of Baghdad's citizens who have to get food, water, and other necessities. Update on ops in Basra aren't looking so hot if you read the NY Times. Hard to say what's really going on down there...

The Ugly: Sadr made his first public appearance in quite some time and came out with some rambling speech about the occupation, united resistance, blah blah. Somehow I don't think the Sunnis are too happy with that whole "ethnic cleansing" and deathsquad thing back in 2006 and probably aren't going to stand united. Sadr says he's still in charge of the Mahdi militia, but why have the rogue elements been wreaking havoc in Baghdad ever since the ceasefire was implemented in August 2007? It will be interesting to see how all this plays out. Right now things are pretty shitty in Iraq, but this can't go on forever.

It's a swell time to vacation in Basra