Regardless of whether the reasons for this sudden military action are “politically motivated” or “fed up residents who want an end to the militia crap” -It is perceptions that matter, and if the Iraqi population at large is under the impression that the U.S. is throwing our lot in with ISCI for the upcoming elections it will not bode well for the future. Something quite similar happened in Lebanon a while back.

I have an Army friend in Iraq now (not living in the Green Zone) and this is his take:

“Meanwhile in ‘normal’ Iraq, Iraqi police are walking off of the job, in some cases merely taking their weapons to the side that they always had loyalty to, MAS. In other parts of Bahgdad, Iraqi Army checkpoints are being overrun by JAM fighters, and ironically this is giving AQI a chance to regroup and refit.”

I’ll just be a sticky booger and say that I think he has a much more deeply vested interest in seeing a “better side of things” than most of us posting here. But he doesn’t. Not at all. It just doesn’t look good from where he is standing.

Pardon the snark, but by all means, lets believe what the Mahdi army says about US and Iraqi troop movement… Give me a break.

Besides, I thought it was common knowledge that we were fighting the Mahdi army in Sadr city. What the article doesn’t tell you (and what they won’t tell you because it doesn’t fit the narative that Iraq is falling into chaos) is that we (the US) aren’t fighting down south in Basra. That is an IA operation (we’re giving air support and logistics support from what I’ve read, but that’s it).

Jim C

Worst part? It ruined my weekend plans. Alright, that’s not the worst part and I apologize for my flippancy. A couple people have been killed and more injured in the IZ.

We have to wear our body armor for the first time in quite a while, and we have cut out a lot of unnecessary movement.

However, for all the shite raining down out of the sky, it’s remarkably ineffective. It is disrupting some people’s sleep and work habits, but it’s not cripppling the effort by any means. It’s harassment, pure and simple, because even after stockpiling all this time, they have no real ability to strike in any decisive manner. By no means are we on the run- they are. In the end, they can harass us with sproadic mortar and rocket fire until they run out of munitions, and it still won’t change a bloody thing.

b2

I think the reasons stories vary so much has to do with the vast differences on how things look on the ground depending on where one is standing. That goes for groups as small as military branches (the answer to how well the USAF is doing its job, for example, will be 180 out depending on who in the service you ask), let alone a vast country like Iraq.