Two years ago this August, coalition ground troops wrested the Shi’a holy city of Najaf from Moqtada al Sadr’s mehdi army, a group of mostly Bagdhad-based thugs, louts and impoverished goons that had encamped there, threatening the clerical base of the more moderate Ayatollah Ali al Sistani. Sistani – the leading Shi’a cleric in Arabia – hewed to that sect’s tradition of separating the crerisy from mere political policy. Al Sadr, on the other hand, less invested than Sistani with theological street cred, used his revered father’s name to build a militia of his own out of human detritus of the Shi’a slums in eastern Baghdad, and sought to grasp his way to power through the barrel of a gun.
Having dealt his militia a stunning blow in Najaf, many of us hoped that final postage would be paid to this murderous upstart, who is still technically under warrant for the post-war killing of a rival cleric. Throughout the siege, coalition spokesmen emphasized the importance of killing or capturing al Sadr. But he was allowed to flee the wreckage that he and his people had wrought. And free, as it turns out, to cause trouble elsewhere.
The coalition flinched in the summer of 2004, alarmed by an Arab street whose outrage had been fanned by new and bloody-minded media outlets like Al Jazeera. Also of concern no doubt was the specter of coalition troops caught in a two-front war with both the Shi’a masses to the south and an emergently violent resistance in the Sunni heartland to the west. US policy makers – whose hopes for a quick and easy end to the violence looks almost charmingly naive two years on – looked the devil in the eye and blinked, striking what appears in retrospect to be a bargain with Sadr: He would withdraw to his own fastness in the Bagdhad slums, be free to criticize the occupation from the sidelines, and participate in the political process. For our own part, we would not seek any more to kill him.
The bill on that bargain has now come due:
BAGHDAD
To this day I don’t understand why Al Sadr wasn’t killed or captured two years ago. You are right Lex, the butcher’s bill has now become due…
Sounds like a shiite/suni battle.
This last one was actuall shi’a v. shi’a, AFS.
Re the Iraqi army casualites: Lex, this is true of most armies in their first real firefight. There will always be those who flinch, who freeze, who forget, and will die for their sins. The survivors will gain experience, and if ably led, will become more and more effective. Moreover, this winnowing process will also provide a cadre of noncoms to train the replacements, adding to the army in general skill set. It’s a brutal way to put it, but true none the less.
I was standing next to a colonel and a commodore, once, underway. They were discussing the time a unit captured Sadr…and had to let him go.
The two men were not happy about this decision at all, and even then signs were appearing that this decision, like First Fallujah, were decisions to be less violent, for which we paid and are still paying.
And I must add…why are banner ads for Indian arranged marriages here? Is there a market for single Indian folks who read Lex, or is the ad computer haywire?
Geex Chap – Are you saying that Sadr was in custody and the American military let him go? You were there and didn’t put a bullet in his head?
Wow, that must have been tough, considering all the death and suffering that has gone on…
Please confirm…
Guess I misunderstood. After reading Chap’s post agin, I guess the military commanders were talking about something that had gone on beyond their powers and away from them…
Am I right Chap?
Whenever I see his name..I think we need to deal with him Tony Soprano style ..leave no loose ends.
Sadr is a loose end. (I think most of them would get over it fairly soon…)
Then of course I realize they’ll just foist another one on us…
B2
Agreed, Lex, and with B2 – Have wanted this creep “done away with” since I first saw & heard of him. Maybe the next one wouldn’t be quite as effective – seems as if the Z-man’s replacement isn’t quite as savvy, at least in the PR Dept, so far…
I suspect that he’s alive because someone who has never smelled how crappy the pointy end really is.
This SOB will get his someday. I hope it will be soon. And I hope a Shiite Iraqi Army Corporal will do the honors. He should be awarded a US Expert Marksman medal and a Commendation medal for the act. If heroism is involved, I hope he gets a Bronze Star or equivalent.
Mahdis executing 12 IAF who ran out of ammo — hanging is too good for their executioners, especially since they are likely their own countrymen.
Subsunk
I have a friend who was in An Najaf in August 2004. He was pi**ed that Sadr was not taken out and that seemed to be the general consensus of the guys in his unit.
I heard yesterday that 10 of those 25 KIA Iraqi soldiers were lined up against a wall after they were captured and executed by a Mahdi firing squad.
Sounds like we need a Kitchener to arrive and conduct a 21st Century Khartoum.