The Iraqi military are patrolling in Basra. There was no confrontation, no bloodshed. The presence of the Iraqi military, if not met with resistance is simply a return to 'status quo' yet the American newsprint insists there was this dominating battle that has surmounted any resistance and the people of Basra are now dominated. Propaganda in the Western Media of the USA is the only result of the days in Basra, nothing else. Give them something to believe.
Basically, the Mahdi Army in Iraq just hasn't gotten around to picking up their weapons today. Maybe they won't bother. Ah. It must be the smell of napalm in the morning that did it.
...“One of the grossest of US errors in Iraq was to try to marginalise him (click here) and his movement,” writes Cockburn. “Had he been part of the political process from the beginning then the chances of creating a peaceful, prosperous Iraq would have been greater. In any real accommodation between Shia and Sunni, the Sadrists must play a central part.”...
Blood in Basra and beyond (click here)
Apr 17th 2008From The Economist print edition
Three accounts of the war in Iraq are defined by anger and wry humour
AT ITS worst, Iraq's rhythm of violence was so predictable that Oliver Poole, the Daily Telegraph's correspondent, reckoned he could tell the time in Baghdad by the nature of the explosions: mornings started with a “dull pop” as patrols were hit by roadside bombs planted overnight. Then came the suicide-bombers. Afternoons were the turn of the mortar teams who liked harassing the Americans in the protected Green Zone. Finally after sunset came the gunfire from military operations and extra-judicial killings.
Mr Poole's vivid “Red Zone” is one of several first-person British accounts that complement recent American books dissecting how the war went wrong. A fellow journalist, Jonathan Steele, has written a strong polemic against America's occupation of Iraq, while Britain's former man in the south, Sir Hilary Synnott, provides an insider's account of the hopelessness of trying to administer the country....
Five people killed, 18 wounded by bombings in northern Iraq today (click here)
23 hours ago
BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials say bombings have killed at least five people in northern Iraq.
A spokesman says a roadside bomb meant for a U.S. patrol in Mosul missed its target and killed two civilians and injured 12 other civilians.
Police also say one civilian was killed and four others were wounded in a parked car bombing in Kirkuk.
They say a roadside bomb elsewhere in the city killed one Iraqi policeman and wounded two.
Police in the Diyala province say another roadside bomb killed a schoolboy in Baqouba.
Today's attacks cap a violent week that has raised concerns that suspected Sunni insurgents are regrouping.
