Quote:
Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
A wholly different perspective on the Najaf situation from my friends at the WSJ editorial page:
"...As Mr. Bush noted, the U.S. military has been making progress against our enemies in Iraq. Fallujah is calm, at least for the moment. And yesterday U.S. forces agreed to stop offensive operations against Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi militia after having shredded the radical cleric's rebellion. In recent days the Army's 1st Armored Division has arrested his chief lieutenant and killed hundreds of his fighters with just one casualty of its own -- to the point that Mahdi militia had little safe refuge other than mosques.
More important for future stability, Mr. al-Sadr was defeated with the help of other Iraqi Shiites. Respected Shiite clerics, led by Grand Ayatollah Sistani, issued a remarkable statement blaming the violence squarely on the shoulders of the young renegade.
Three Shiite members of the Iraqi Governing Council negotiated the cease-fire, which will prevent further damage to holy sites in Najaf and elsewhere by requiring the Mahdi militia to disarm and depart. The U.S. will withdraw most of its troops as well, but it will still protect returning Iraqi police and government buildings and have free movement through the city. The U.S. was also careful not to disavow the outstanding warrant against Mr. al-Sadr, who needs to be arrested sooner or later. All in all, a big coalition victory...."
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I have to agree with the WSJ sentiment while endorsing (to some degree, but not entirely) Ty's thoughts. As you all know, I am a very reasonable Attila-the-Hun type Republican.
If they want Sadr, they can have Sadr. My main concern for the long run in Iraq is a.) Democracy of some sorts (its good for everybody, really); b.) don't make us come back; and 3.) let us know if y'all need a hand with anything within reason.
Democracy: The rest of the nation politilely asked us not to break stuff. No problem here with the cease fire.
I guess another way of saying that is, there is no point in fighting just for the sake of fighting. If the rest of the country just wants everybody to have a say, then let em.
Tell ya one thing though. When we leave, 7 million AKs in that country are gonna do a whole lot of retaliating. If I were middle class there, I'd leave now.
e b/c my reviewing attorney just came by and pointed out that I had used the word "their" instead of "there". Twice!!!!
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