Maliki vs Sadr vs Armchair Observers

Two stellar Wolf Howling posts concerning Maliki, Sadr, and their little incident in Basra.

Interviewer: “After five years of war, do you still believe that Iraq is occupied?”

Muqtada Al-Sadr: “Bush used to say that his picture would hang in all the Iraqi homes. No, sir. His picture is now trampled underfoot by the Iraqis.”

Interviewer: “But is Iraq still occupied by the American forces?”

Muqtada Al-Sadr: “Yes, it is, and American popularity is dropping daily – why daily? It is dropping by the minute.” . . .

Interviewer: “Do you consider acts of resistance to be legitimate when directed against these forces, which you call ‘occupying forces?'”

Muqtada Al-Sadr: “No one can deny [the right] to conduct resistance. No human mind would deny it. Resistance is the legitimate right of all peoples. Resistance automatically appears wherever there is occupation. Allah willing, the U.S. will be vanquished, just like it was in Vietnam.”

Interviewer: “Do you support any armed resistance against these forces, which you label ‘occupiers?'”

Muqtada Al-Sadr: “This is the reasonable right…”

Interviewer: “Do you support it? Do you support armed resistance against the forces you call ‘occupiers?'”

Muqtada Al-Sadr: “Against the occupiers – yes, but not against others.”

Interviewer: “Since you claim that Iraq is now occupied, and that the occupiers are the Americans, do you support conducting acts of armed resistance, in order to liberate Iraq from the occupying American forces, as you call them?”

That little interview was from here.

By 2005, Basra was already in the hands of the “militias,” and in particular Sadr’s Mahdi Army. This 2005 article from CSM documents how Sadr’s militia in particular was imposing a rule in Basra with ever “increasing similarity to the repressive Iranian theocracy.” This similarity came complete with torture and beheadings for singing, dancing, walking about without Iranian hijab, etc. A note here that these are in the same vein as charges regularly leveled against Sadr and his militia in other areas where they have held sway, such as Karbala. And on a second note, in all the reports that I have read of “militia” violence since July, 2006, the only militia that has ultimately been identified in any of the reports as specifically having committed any of the violence is Sadr’s Mahdi militia.

At any rate, by the time the British finally retreated in disgrace a few months ago, the militias fully occupied the power vacuum in Basra. The Iraqi government did not control Basra, and it descended into a gangland with the militias involved in incredibly lucrative illegal activities arising from control of the port. And, much like you see in southern Lebanon with Hezbollah and Nasrallah, billboards and posters “glorifying Mr. Sadr’s fighters [were] everywhere in the city.” A NYT article in February documented the many problems in Basra as it had further degenerated following the British retreat:

People might remember Steven Vincent, the independent reporter who was assassinated by Sadr’s forces.

Such is the price paid for Bush’s decision to go to the UN and everything else that occurred because of it.

Few people here go that far in ascribing blame to the U.S. or its allies. Still, there is a feeing of helplessness, bordering for some on a sense of futility, among nearly all Basrans. They know their city has great, if untapped, potential. Yet at the same time, even after the fall of Saddam, the historic Iraqi elections and the billions of dollars poured into their region by American and British governments, in addition to the U.N. and numerous NGOs, they have seen little effect in their daily lives — water is still bad, electricity spotty, gas lines intolerable. “How can this be? We should be rich!” Saad, a former translator for the British army exclaimed to me. “Where is the money going, why is nothing happening? Tell your readers,” he added in a distraught tone, “that we are willing to work to make Basra beautiful again — but we need their help, we need the world’s help.” So it is throughout the city on the banks of the Shatt-al-Arab. Basrans can almost see the arrival a better and more prosperous tomorrow, but for now, that bright future is frustratingly, inexplicably, just beyond their reach.

-Steven Vincent 2005 June

It is more relevant to an individual that knows the history of Basra to see what has now been occurring in Basrah. Personally, I prefer crucifixion of Sadr and his terrorist thugs in Iraq, stringing them along the highways as the Romans once did on the Via Appia. But neither the US military nor Maliki will hearken to such effective solutions. What they will do is a bit more decadent and civilized, but if it works, it works.

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