Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
April 2, 2008
Retreat From The Green Zone

Badger translates from AlQuds alArabi:

Reliable sources in the Green Zone said a large number of authorities have departed from the area, since it has been exposed to a large number of attacks, including deaths and injuries to a number of Americans and Iraqis, and the sources say the attacks are being carried out in a very accurate way, and this means that those carrying out the attacks, mostly armed Shiite groups, are in possession of precise details and maps of the Green Zone area.

The neurotic Iraqi wife, who works for the U.S. in the Green Zone, somewhat confirmed this as do other sources.

Where are the "western" media on all of this? Self censoring because the U.S. military demands such?

Via Cole we learn that Maliki fired several thousand of the official forces because they rebelled against orders to attack Sadr forces. He replaces these with loyal folks from the Badr brigades. This points to another round of inner Iraqi Shia conflict. I don’t expect that results will be different from the last attempt.

Islam Online reports of a bad mood in the "Green-Reddish Zone" and on what is to come:

The fortified area has recently come under stronger, bolder rocket and mortar attacks.

A senior militant for Sadr militia seemed to claim credit.

"We are just making tests. Much more damage can be caused by our weapons," he said.

While Sadr called for inner Iraqi peace he asked his people to continue to attack "the greater enemy". But there may also be other groups involved in bashing the Green Zone.

Attacks on the Green Zone will continue and continue to get more precise from now on.

The recent days in Baghdad had dust storms that disabled the U.S. to counter-attack mortar firing positions from the air. But even if the weather allows helicopters to counter mortar positions, this always takes some time. Mortars can easily be set up, fired and moved elsewhere within a few minutes.

They can be only countered by denying the opponent all suitable firing locations. Aside from massive aerial bombing of densely inhabited civil neighborhoods, the U.S. has no way to achieve that within Baghdad. It will therefore do massive aerial bombing of densely inhabited civil neighborhoods.

Of course the resistance knows exactly where is what in the Green Zone. How many of the Iraqi Green Zone workers had relatives killed due to U.S. induced violence? Might they have marked some maps?

Ambassador Crocker will now likely be in the Al Faw palace next to the Baghdad airport. The U.S. has named that area Camp Victory. That will turn out to be a misnomer.

That place, like all other U.S. bases in Iraq, has been infiltrated and will come under precise mortar and rocket attacks when the resistence is ready for a bigger push.

This summer in Iraq will be quite hot for all sides of this conflict.

Comments

Reposted due to new thread. More details on Maliki’s victory:
COOPER: All right. Erica Hill with the “Raw Data” — thanks, Erica.
We have now some breaking news out of Iraq. Britain has halted the withdrawal of about 1,500 of their troops from the southern part of this country. Now, their departure put on hold in part because of last week’s fighting, fighting in which Iraqi government forces met stiff resistance.
And we have also just learned that British forces were far more involved in the battle on the streets of Basra than anyone previously thought. They say they had to get involved to rescue Iraqi government forces, which we are just now learning were in serious danger of losing their battle with rebel Shia militia. We will have more on this later in the hour.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/01/acd.01.html
Seems the success of McCains’s “surge” is highly dependent on Iranians:
ROBERTSON: Iraq is burying their dead. Some of them killed by U.S. air strikes in support of government forces. And the political implications of Iran’s involvement are being assessed. The calculation, it was Iranian intervention, not U.S. bombs, that silenced Sadr’s militia.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/01/cnr.03.html
Maliki’s army faced defeat, the population supports the resistance, Iran had to bail them out, US personnel are fleeing the Green Zone and of cousre the Jessica Lynch Pentagon will spin this as another success. And more people will have to die because US elites are still dreaming for a pony to appear in Iraq. Jesse Ventura:
You know why? Because we lined our military up at another sovereign nation’s border, we invaded that country and overthrew that government without being asked. That’s what the Nazis did. That’s what the communists did. And now we’ve done it.

KING: Should Jesse Ventura run for president? Still time to cast your vote at CNN.com/LarryKing. Right now, get this, 85 percent say yes.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/01/lkl.01.html
Pretty much sums it up doesn’t it?

Posted by: Sam | Apr 2 2008 19:31 utc | 1

Aside from massive aerial bombing of densely inhabited civil neighborhoods, the U.S. has no way to achieve that within Baghdad. It will therefore do massive aerial bombing of densely inhabited civil neighborhoods.
Indeed … considering only events, not statements, it’s apparent that the US is at war with ALL Iraqis. In other words, “al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia” may be defined as “whoever we bombed yesterday”.

Posted by: Cloud | Apr 2 2008 19:38 utc | 2

Administration and military officials say Baghdad hasn’t been able to spend its oil revenues so far because the newly formed government is still learning how to manage its revenues. They say Iraq’s lack of spending isn’t due to corruption or laziness, but rather Baghdad’s inability to determine where its money is needed most and how to allocate it efficiently.

They haven’t a fucking clue.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Apr 2 2008 20:00 utc | 3

cloned
no they dont have a fucking clue

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 2 2008 20:11 utc | 4

If the US cannot stop the Iraq elections in October it is quite likely that Sadr will control the Iraqi government after that, and all the police/army that switched sides will be heroes…
The two things Sadr has always demanded are a unified Iraq and a US withdrawal. From Juan Cole – Why Maliki attacked:

If the Sadr Movement rules most Shiite-majority provinces, including Baghdad, that will make it difficult for the U.S. military to remain in the country. It will stop any move toward a soft partition of the country of the sort endorsed by the U.S. Senate. It will ensure that the Sadr Movement can continue to siphon off billions in petroleum revenue through smuggling, strengthening it for the future.

Posted by: PeeDee | Apr 2 2008 20:12 utc | 5

& a question of language – the way the newswhores – always speak of their own as soldiers or warriors – but the ‘other’ – is always, always – a “gunmen” – as if they come out of a humphrey bogart movie

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 2 2008 20:14 utc | 6

Maybe soldiers on the ground should talk to the great thinkers in Washington.

Soldiers, Dailey said, are hoping that politics rather than rifle fire brings a lasting peace to a land where fighting has bred more violence.
“They know violence is a no-win situation for anybody,” Dailey said. “They understand the cause and effect it will have.”

From local paper interview with Csm Dailey, the top enlisted officer of a brigade involved in Sadr City fighting.

Posted by: small coke | Apr 2 2008 20:45 utc | 7

CNN is reporting that the Pentagon is not sending more troops to Afghanistan becuase they need all they can muster in Iraq. They are depending on Bush to find more troops in Europe to make up for this.

Posted by: Sam | Apr 2 2008 21:14 utc | 8

& gates weeping that they are the only ones doing the dying. well fuck you, jack. there’s nothing i like better than watching these creeps from washington go from corridor to corridor in copenahgen or in minsk. in mongolia or in bhutan. in manila or in lisbon – on their knees begging for small change
they are not only hollow men, they are also small & low men

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 2 2008 21:20 utc | 9

dah jamail on basra & consequences

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 2 2008 21:24 utc | 10

The retreat from the Green Zone is a big issue, on the same level as the failure in Basra. I didn’t believe it at first, but now it seems confirmed.
In principle, the retreat is temporary: when the bombardment stops, the US diplomats will return. But why should the bombardment stop? The launchers are no doubt mobile. Some may be caught by US airstrikes, but others will survive. The only solution is political.
In between times, the US has spent billions on their new embassy in the Green Zone. Now useless. Is anyone surprised?

Posted by: Alex | Apr 2 2008 21:49 utc | 11

& in the shit that passes for a media – not a whisper – not a word – even some dumb souls calling basra a ‘success’

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 2 2008 22:51 utc | 12

The neurotic Iraqi wife, who works for the U.S. in the Green Zone,
Concise statement of why Oybamination will be Given JackAss Party Nomination. By the numbers, females are no more neurotic than males; however, it is simply unthinkable to refer to a male as “neurotic” no wonder what a basket case he is, while males can barely restrain themselves from referring to females who do something they disapparove of as “neurotice” or worse…. For women, it’s one strike & you’re out; for males – hell, we all screw up… what you want us to be saints…etc. … This may refer to Iraq, but it’s not different domestically. Larry Johnson, who has done exc. election coverage has new number out – Oybamination has 30% more positive coverage than Clinton. No one even bothers focusing on how much further to the right he is. When it comes to females, just smear shit everywhere, making it taboo to support her. Even Lou Dobbs has figured it out. This is a good case in point on why there will never again be a male-left. Wayyy too much sexism in semi-lefty identified males. Same crap that destroyed it last time around. Sad. Mighta thought they’d have learned something over the decades… 🙁

Posted by: jj | Apr 2 2008 23:00 utc | 13

@PeeDee, I think Sadr has always demanded oil remain in public sector as well. (He definitely is Now.)

Posted by: jj | Apr 2 2008 23:02 utc | 14

Are rockets and mortars accurate enough to capitalize on insiders’ cartographic detail? I wouldn’t have thought so, since they’re mostly set up on the run – and the higher-resolution GPS data must be encrypted in that footprint so that even if PGMs were available, their accuracy should be limited. Maybe the bombardiers are just getting bolder and closer and more numerous. That’ll do it, too.
Bless her neurotic Iraqi heart, she’s going to be the Frank Snep of our next defeat. I hope she gets a handhold on the helicopter landing skids.

Posted by: …—… | Apr 2 2008 23:45 utc | 15

& that’s exactly what it feels like – helicopters falling into the sea of tonkin
they are so busy hiding not only the details of the disaster but even the general context. they are as quite as mice. where’s fucking feith now
to quote their glorious warrior rumsfield – stuff happens or i didn’t know there was so many iraquis in iraq

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 2 2008 23:50 utc | 16

jj:
When it comes to females, just smear shit everywhere, making it taboo to support her. Even Lou Dobbs has figured it out.
I guess everybody lives in their own perception. Mine I find the media coverage most favorable to McCain. I’m not even going to bother about FOX just look at CNN the so-callled liberal side. In fact if you go to http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/ right now McCain is the feature story with his VP list. Right beside his face in the Top Stories list the first headline is “Breaking the Democratic quagmire”.
While the Dems are busy sliming each other McCain is rising in the polls. Seems to be working pretty good. In fact one poll had a significant number of Dems turning to McCain in the next election if their candidate doesn’t get the nod. Seems the media spin is working pretty good.

Posted by: Sam | Apr 3 2008 0:07 utc | 17

a little tet before the big tet

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 3 2008 0:36 utc | 18

jj: there’s one fucking reason to put Clinto to rest once and for all. She voted for 1 mio dead Iraqis and the destruction of a once glorious civilization. I don’t think anyone will ever need any more proof than that that she and McCain are totally unfit to rule the mightiest nation in the world. Both of them, at the very best, can only be marginally better than Bush, both for the US and for the rest of the world. If Obama isn’t better, then all that you’ve left is to go for a 3rd party.
With regard to the Green Zone, the whole thing has been so thoroughly infiltrated since years it’s no wonder, and I’m ready to believe Sadr guys weren’t bluffing when they said “We’re just exercising, if we were serious, it’ll be really bloody”.
Still, having the US officials now right at Baghdad airport is symbolically very telling. Not that I expect BushCo to see it, mind you.

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Apr 3 2008 0:38 utc | 19

Nothing matters but the economy. Project that 7 months out and the GOP is gone, so they’ll get to blame defeat on the left again.

Posted by: …—… | Apr 3 2008 0:48 utc | 20

I’m still waiting for the Stingers and the SAMs to come out. That will show a tipping point. Maybe not THE tipping point, but a tipping point.

Posted by: biklett | Apr 3 2008 0:57 utc | 21

@jj
Uh, what? She calls herself the “neurotic Iraqi wife”… And I’ve certainly heard the term applied numerous times to men.
Ease up on the flamethrower there, chief.

Posted by: Chemmett | Apr 3 2008 1:11 utc | 22

Bush in Europe:
The president also called for NATO members to increase their defense investment to support alliance operations and, for those who have not done so already, to “step forward with additional forces” in Afghanistan, where Taliban and al-Qaida extremists are resurgent. He noted that bin Laden in a recent audiotape had renewed threats to strike in Europe.
“Our alliance must maintain its resolve and finish the fight,” he said. “If we do not defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan, we will face them on our own soil. Innocent civilians in Europe and North America will pay the price.”

http://www.kyivpost.com/bn/28745/
Notice that he doesn’t try the bullshit that he and his fellow politicians regularly hype in the US that they are fighting the terrorists in Iraq? Proves you can regularly lie to Americans but but he knows the Europeans would laugh at him if he tried it there. And if innocent children will pay the price if more troops aren’t sent to Afghanistan why isn’t he sending more troops there?
And all those stories about France sending more troops to Afghanistan think again. It is conditional on US handing over command of Southern Europe to France. And the troops would go to Kabul in order to free up US troops to go South and fight.

Posted by: Sam | Apr 3 2008 1:14 utc | 23

it is simply unthinkable to refer to a male as “neurotic”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL2yJMNK3Bs“>the suitcase
jj, this one’s for you

Posted by: annie | Apr 3 2008 2:40 utc | 24

woody allen has made a living being a neurotic male

Posted by: anna missed | Apr 3 2008 3:50 utc | 25

so has richard lewis

Posted by: anna missed | Apr 3 2008 3:51 utc | 26

Here is a another pertinent piece on Asia Times Iran torpedoes US plans for Iraqi oil

Posted by: deepdive | Apr 3 2008 6:51 utc | 27

According to ambassador Crocker, as reliably stenographed by Micheal Gordon, the whole Basra affair was Maliki’s initiative and the U.S. only helped when things got wrong.
That is, of course, bullshit. The Iraqi troops can’t move without U.S. logistics and the embedded “advisors” arranging for those.

Posted by: b | Apr 3 2008 6:57 utc | 28

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[spam deleted – b.]

Posted by: old hack | Apr 3 2008 8:14 utc | 29

Gotcha oldhack, except it only had one option to click… goodluck…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 3 2008 8:43 utc | 30

A good rundown on the Basra debacle:

Out of the dramatic developments of the past week, several questions arise, the principal being that the Bush administration’s triumphalism over the so-called Iraq “surge” strategy has become irredeemably farcical, and, two, US doublespeak has become badly exposed. What stands out is that Washington promoted the latest round of violence in Basra, whereas Iran cried halt to it. The awesome influence of Tehran has become all too apparent. How does Bush come to terms with it?
What has happened is essentially that Iran has frustrated the joint US-British objective of gaining control of Basra, without which the strategy of establishing control over the fabulous oil fields of southern Iraq will not work. Control of Basra is a pre-requisite before American oil majors make their multi-billion investments to kick start large-scale oil production in Iraq. Iraq’s Southern Oil Company is headquartered in Basra. Highly strategic installations are concentrated in the region, such as pipeline networks, pumping stations, refineries and loading terminals. The American oil majors will insist on fastening these installations.
The game plan for control of Basra now needs to be reworked. The idea was to take Basra in hand now so that the Sadrists would be thwarted from taking over the local administration in elections in October – in other words, to ensure the political underpinning for Basra. All indications are that the Sadrists are riding a huge wave of popular support. They have caught the imagination of the poor, downtrodden, dispossessed masses in the majority Shi’ite community. They are hard to replace in democratic elections. The sense of frustration in Washington and London must be very deep that Basra is not yet fastened. Time is running out for Bush to make sure that his successor in the White House inherits an irreversible process in the US’s Iraq policy.

Posted by: anna missed | Apr 3 2008 9:37 utc | 31

@ CJ – “She voted for 1 mio dead Iraqis and the destruction of a once glorious civilization.” To advance herself while others had the courage and judgment to say No.
Can’t repeat it often enough.

Posted by: beq | Apr 3 2008 11:13 utc | 32

Its not easy to at first glimpse seperate adjective from handle, especially when the handle can include an adjective. Except of course if the handle is a phrase that can not be found elsewhere.

Posted by: a swedish kind of death | Apr 3 2008 12:10 utc | 33

Iraq’s Sadr Calls Million-Strong March Against US
And he’ll get them.

A statement released by Sadr’s office in the holy city of Najaf called on Iraqis of all sects to descend on the southern city, site of annual Shi’ite pilgrimages that attract hundreds of thousands of worshippers.
“The time has come to express your rejections and raise your voices loud against the unjust occupier and enemy of nations and humanity, and against the horrible massacres committed by the occupier against our honorable people,” it said.

Posted by: beq | Apr 3 2008 16:26 utc | 34

Interesting profile of another al-Sadr, Imam Musa al-Sadr, a reformist Shi’i in southern Lebanon in 1960s & 70s. Vanished in Libya in ’78. Described by blogger as “seminal.” Was it an Islamic variant of “liberation theology”?
Link at Juan Cole’s group blog.

Posted by: small coke | Apr 3 2008 17:17 utc | 35