An Old U.S. Foe Rises Again in Iraq

[Secret Squirrel]

Over the loudspeakers set up in this small town in a backwater of southern Iraq, the commands came in staccato bursts. "Forward!" a man clad in black shouted to the militiamen. "March!"

Column after column followed through the dusty, windswept square. Some of the marchers wore the funeral shawls of prospective martyrs. Others were dressed in newly pressed camouflage. Together, their boots beat the pavement like a drum as they goose-stepped or double-timed in place.

Over their heads flew the Iraqi flag, banners of Shiite Muslim saints and a portrait of their leader, Moqtada Sadr -- symbols of their militia, the Mahdi Army, twice subdued by the U.S. military last year but now openly displaying its strength in parts of the south.

"At your service, Sadr! At your service, Moqtada!"....

link (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35586-2005Apr7.html)

[SocScout]

Ready for another ass kickin' I assume.

[Argyll]

It's nothing new to be honest,they've been simmering away underneath all the election furore,and it was only a matter of time before they reared their ugly head again

what isn't so good is that at one of the locations we visit,we were informed that a lot of the people there were Mehdi Militia.... :(

[JQ24]

"Wherever America is present, then there is terrorism," Saadi said. "When they ask the terrorists why they're here, they say we came to fight America. If America leaves, there would be no terrorism. Terrorism would leave with it."

You sure about that? I highly doubt that terrorism will be gone once the coalition leaves. Terrorists don't give a fvck about anything. They are more likely to stay and terrorize people to get what they want.

[Argyll]

Odd because the Mehdi Militia are not terrorists :roll:

[PrincessRAR]

It's nothing new to be honest,they've been simmering away underneath all the election furore,and it was only a matter of time before they reared their ugly head again

what isn't so good is that at one of the locations we visit,we were informed that a lot of the people there were Mehdi Militia.... :(

so true...(first part)

[sp2c]

Odd because the Mehdi Militia are not terrorists :roll:
that should put you out of harms way a bit or shouldn't it??

or do they view military contractors as the big bad enemy as well?

[Argyll]

Odd because the Mehdi Militia are not terrorists :roll:
that should put you out of harms way a bit or shouldn't it??

or do they view military contractors as the big bad enemy as well?

Well they attempted to overun the positions in Najaf,and it was PMC's to held them off!!

They see us a valid targets mate,we're no different from the Military.

The Mehdi militia are everywhere down South,and I literally mean everywhere!!

Had these guys decided to take the insurgency(Sunni's) on then it would be chaos on a degree never seen before,a civil war would be the only outcome!!

[obd]

Well it would be a stupid move on the part of the Mehdi Army dont you think Argyll??? I would think, if they were smart, they would bide thier time and grow thier strength even farther.........but hey maybe they feel perfectly strong enough to make thier presence felt openly again......as you said "they are everywhere". I think any hostile moves by the Mehdi Army against the Americans would only weaken the position of the Shiites who have gained much in the elections..........

The Mehdi Army should take note of the Sunni's new fear that they have sidelined themselves just as the Shiites ounce did years ago.......and they faced decades of oppression for it. The Sunni may very well have put the final nails in thier own coffin when they refused to participate and watched the Kurds and Shiites gain dominance......

Its really kinda funny how history has a way of circling around. Now the Sunni's may have made the same fatal mistake ounce made by the shiites when they refused to participate in the new political system (then the rise of the Baath party Arab nationalists)....my question is: Can a democracy survive under such conditions or will it naturally revert to totalitarian rule?? Saddam, like Tito of Yugoslavia, was able to keep order..........but what of democracy?? Iraq currenlty is fresh out of Saddam and I see no real strong figures emerging..........Oh well, a test then of the strength of democracy...........

Now will we (Americans) repeat the mistakes of the British in this region...........and will we create massive problems just as the British attempt at social engineering did circa 1914...................

Funny too how the British are so near the very point where they entered Iraq in 1914-----> Basra. Maybe history will circle around in more ways then one in the years to come ................

[Argyll]

Good points there obd!!