Iraq News (18 April)

The Good: Sadr City operations are now involving Tanks N' T-Walls (Michael R. Gordon reports). Significant humanitarian assistance is going to be needed from the Iraqi government to coincide with this in order to avoid a "siege" mentality. This will also undercut support from poor Shi'ites for the militias and Iranian-backed goon squads that operate in the area. The Iraqi Accordance Front is talking about returning its ministers to the government after a months-long boycott. This is due to the Sunni bloc being pleased with the Prime Minister for taking on the thugs in the militia that "cleansed" so many Sunnis in 2006 and 2007, apparently.

The Bad: It's looking like the Sadrists will not disband the Mahdi Army on their own. Scores were killed due to a suicide bombing at a funeral for a Sahwa member in Diyala province. This comes at a time when Zawahiri (#2 Al-Qaeda asshat) has called for creating a "fortress of Islam" in Iraq. Ironically, he accuses the US with colluding with Iran, guess he doesn't get much news in the northwestern part of Pakistan or wherever the hell he's holed up. He also called Iraq a "failure and defeat" for the US. Guess he's getting his talking points from Democrat Senators (hi-yo!).

The Ugly: A nasty sandstorm gripped Baghdad yesterday, which shut down the airport, compounded respiratory illnesses, and provided cover for the enemy to conduct more attacks (I blame, you, Ms. Mother Nature). Also, a new RAND study reveals that 1 in 5 vets suffer some level of mental disorder. That makes an estimated 300,000 having psychological issues related to serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. It's funny (in a sad way) that the media always acts surprised when these studies come out. Of course to vets it is no surprise, and it serves as a stark reminder to the high cost of war. But PTSD does not necessarily imply that 300K vets are running around the woods like Rambo waiting to kill Haji, as it comes in various different forms. You might be surprised at the amount of veteran activists, media personalities, and bloggers that have been diagnosed PTSD or suffer some level of psychological disorder. Very surprised...

Looks like the Gates of Hell