Posted by
Dawnsblood on Sunday, January 14, 2007 10:01:12 PM
I disagree in a large part, but
am pleased to see some cogent reasoning. Most offer stupid emotional fare, I am glad to say TMP doesn't.
New troops will be in Iraq not to police the streets and hold the line
against the creeping violence, but to expand the war by taking on the
Shia militias. This is an escalation strategy. Will it work; maybe,
maybe not. But it runs the risk that it may very well provoke a Shia
insurgency—something Iraq has not so far witnessed. Thus far the U.S.
has faced a Sunni insurgency (which by most estimates continues to
account for 80% of U.S. casualties), and sectarian violence in which
Shias and Sunnis are killing each other. Shia militias are violent,
destructive and radical, but Shia militias are a very different problem
from the Sunni insurgency. Shia militias, unlike te insurgency, are not
targeting American troops. But it looks like the administration is set
to change that. Over the past year Washington and its Baghdad embassy
have alienated the Shia and undermined the authority of the more
moderate Ayatollah Sistani. Anti-Americanism has grown in Shia ranks as
they accuse U.S. of favoring Sunnis by focusing on Shia militias rather
than Sunni insurgency. By going to war with the increasingly popular
Sadr Washington runs the danger of losing the Shia altogether.
Not surprisingly I disagree, It is well passed time to hobble the Shia militias but I like the fact that they are thinking about it... Finally.