The Crisis In Iraq

It’s been a bloody Sunday in Iraq, with 7 soldiers killed in Sadr City, along with two Marines in Anbar province and an American and an El Salvadorian soldier in Najaf.

The events in Baghdad were led by the Jaish Mahdi, the private army of Moqtata Sadr, an Iraqi warlord.

It’s time to get serious about destroying the resistance in Iraq. We’ve been essentially pussyfooting around, afraid of offending the Iraqis too much. Unfortunately, as is always the case, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. By cutting back on hunting down the insurgents, we’ve given them time to reequip and rearm. Groups like Sadr’s militia have been left largely untouched, and Fallujah has been allowed to be a base for militants.

We have to treat this like a war. That means taking out the leaders of the resistance and breaking their back. That means Sadr should be toast. That means that we should be going house-to-house in Fallujah, taking out the terrorist leaders, and disarming the rest. This means not playing around, not taking half-measures, and making sure that the Iraqi people know that violence is never a tolerable way of achieving political means.

We have to succeed in Iraq, the costs of failure are simply too high. If that means more troops, we need to send more troops. If that means taking our Sadr, then we need to take out Sadr. If that means bribing tribesman, then we need to start filling briefcases with bills.

We can win, and we can restore democracy to Iraq. Sadr’s militia needs to be punished, we need to make it clear that our forces aren’t sitting ducks, but can and will fight back. The insurgency is looking for weakness – it is imperative we don’t allow them to succeed.

UPDATE: The incomparable Victor Davis Hanson has an excellent piece on what we face in bringing the modern world to the Middle East.

UPDATE: Allah has an absolutely briliant post on Sadr. Allahu akbar indeed.

2 thoughts on “The Crisis In Iraq

  1. “That means that we should be going house-to-house in Fallujah, taking out the terrorist leaders, and disarming the rest”

    if you’re looking for friends, don’t do that to often…It annoys after a while…

    “If that means bribing tribesman, then we need to start filling briefcases with bills. We can win, and we can restore democracy to Iraq.”

    What kind of democracy exactly do you want to build with briefcases of banknotes??? You want to create a franchise of “corrupt administration”?

  2. I was out there on april 4th 2004 with c btry 1/82 and i lost 2 great friends and i would like some info on what happend with news paper articals ect… please respond asap.

    spc Frederick Schultz

    U.S Army Field Artillery

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