Make of it what you will......

February 27, 2007

Success, with a touch of doomed progress

For our surging, friendless crusaders in khaki, more lugubrious news from the Land of sectarian Ooze:

"Iraq's most powerful Shiite militant cleric publicly repudiated the new Baghdad security plan for the first time on Sunday, according to a statement distributed by his aides that said the push to quell violence was doomed to fail as long as it was directed by the American military."

That bit of bombshelling came from the menacing-looking Moktada al-Sadr, owner-operator of Iraq's largest and most lethal militia, the Mahdi Army. Frankly, if I were roaming the streets of Baghdad on unsolicited neighborhood patrols, just knowing of the man's presence would cause me to shake like a spooked Don Knotts.

But if I then heard him branding my mission as "doomed to fail," I'd faint dead away -- no actual resistance or proof of doom required.

The NYT's understated characterization of Mr. Sadr's drive-by eulogy then really kicked in: "Without his support for the stepped-up security effort, the prospects for continued sectarian violence and a direct conflict with American troops could increase."
Yes, they could. And the sun, reportedly, could come up tomorrow and George W. Bush could still be a dimwit. There are, you see, no absolutes in astrophysics or among the developmentally disabled.

"Mum" was Sadr's word on the escalation up till now, so the report was left to ponder that "It was unclear why he would turn against the joint American-Iraqi plan, but many of his followers have been losing patience with the failure of the security push to eliminate violence against Shiites."

What did I miss? Did not that sentence's second clause answer the first?

The original story was then edited and republished

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.