04 May 2008

Iraq News (4 May)

The Good: A US air strike took out a militia command and control center in Sadr City, which the thugs conveniently placed next to a hospital so they could use innocent civilians as human shields. The hospital was damaged along with some ambulances, but so was the command center. Iran has publicly announced that they will cooperate to improve stability and security in Iraq. Sheikh Attiya, deputy speaker of Iraqi parliament, said he sensed a "positive stance" from Iranian officials. Will the mullahs rein in Quds Force commander Suleimani to stop malicious support of Shi'ite militias in Iraq? Only time will tell, but if they don't, at least diplomats can always refer to this delegation and ask "WTF, Iran". Turkey is claiming they killed 150 PKK terrorists in airstrikes in northern Iraq, but the PKK propaganda apparatus is disputing this.
The Bad: The Times of London is real hit or miss. One of their journalists, Deborah Haynes, ran a swell piece on Basra a week ago that showed remarkable progress, but now they are hanging out with the enemy in Sadr City! Meh, freedom of press is a good thing, besides it provides OSINT on the enemy. 4 of our Marines were killed on Friday from an IED in Anbar province, also 2 soldiers from Georgia, one of our coalition partners, were killed in Baghdad on Friday.
The Ugly: It's attack of the Neo-Cons in the Sunday Op-Eds! Former head of the CPA, Bremer, says Iraqis need to start footing more of the bill for reconstruction projects in their country. Max Boot puts the high US death toll "into perspective" at the WSJ. David Ignatius says we should apply tactics that have worked in Afghanistan/Iraq to Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (not a bad idea). And, finally, a looksy inside the creepy "cabal" of neoconnitude at Richard Perle's house.
How would you like to hang out with these thugs on an embed? (from The Times of London)

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