Measuring Success by Violence in Iraq
The fighting in Basra and in some southern Baghdad neighborhoods continued for days, despite concerted efforts by American-trained Iraqi troops to dislodge remnants of the Mahdi Army, the militant wing of the political party of Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. The prospect of a successful operation looked grim as militants openly walked the streets and manned checkpoints and as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s compound – where he oversaw the operation personally – was mortared, forcing him to flee.
A ceasefire agreed upon by both the Iraqi government and Sadr’s party is still holding despite an escalation of hostilities.
Despite the fact that Sadr said he would withdrawal his fighters (or perhaps because of it), the Shiite militant faction may have scored a major victory in the upcoming elections.
Bush touted the Iraqi government last week for pulling its weight against the militants while Iraqi officials downplayed the recent clashes, calling it a fight against criminal elements, as quoted in the New York Times.
The Iraqi capital has been in lockdown for the past four days, and the recent security improvements credited to the American troop surge that took place last year is delicately hanging in the balance as thousands of Shiites demonstrate in Baghdad against the recent moves against the Mahdi Army and as the American death toll exceeds 4,000.
The administration, measuring the slightest improvements by the centimeter, is laying bets on the April 8th testimony of US officials in Iraq who will brief Congress on the prospects of bringing troops home and our recent successes in the region. Regardless of the outcome, the recent fighting in Iraq underscores the violent tribal nature of the government’s political parties, many of whom have their own, privately-funded militias, and stresses the Iraqis’ resolve to kill each other long after we have left them to their own fatal devices.
