Continuing Battle for the South: Basra
According to several media reports, the battle of Basra is NOT going well. Just a few hours ago, militants blew up a crude oil pipeline. An act of retaliation, this is part of a tenacious fight that the Sadrists are putting up in the south of the country. The Iraqi and US forces have a lot riding on this operation. The Iraqi government and security forces want to prove that they can plan and execute an operation of this magnitude, while the US needs to win the perception war back home. They need to prove to the US populace that there has been some progress after it was universally acknowledged a couple of weeks ago that the political deadlock is far from being broken.
James Glanz has an excellent piece in the NYT detailing the assault. A very important point that was posited by Mr. Glanz is that the central government’s security forces are supposed to be working with the local security police force (about 16,000 of them), which have been known to have direct links with militias, and in most cases, infiltrated by them. This is a point acknowledged by the chief of police of Basra, Major General Khalaf, who has been working tirelessly to rid the police force of its sectarian infighting. He has survived at least two attempts on his life since being appointed less than a year ago.
Although Maliki’s government’s official line is that they are not targeting just one militia, the general consensus is that the Mahdi Army of Moqtada Al-Sadr is the main focus of the clean out. The Mahdi Army still controls many neighborhoods, and most of the casualties over the course of the offensive have been civilians. Civilians have been trapped in their houses since the operation’s start and are growing frustrated with the violence. Since Sadr has withdrawn from the coalition, PM Maliki can go after them without fear of losing his support in government. Below is an informative piece by Al Jazeera English on the particulars of the situation.
March 27th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Rabia,
You pointed to Major General Khalaf’s goal of quelling the sectarian in-fighting. Isn’t that exactly what is playing out now in Basra, but rather Shia in-fighting? I recognize that the Mahdi Army needs to be addressed and if the Iraqi Army can inflict a mortal wound it will be a major statement (and in light of the US Army’s inability to put a lid on Sadr, it would illustrate improvements made by the Iraqi Army). However, as you noted a sizable portion of the Iraqi Army consists of the Badr Organization and the Fadhila. I really don’t see either group of being any lesser evil than the Mahdi Army in the long-run.
And this is Jeff from US Diplomacy (I singed in from my blogspot account)
March 27th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Hi Jeff,
Good point. I should have been more clear in the post. Not one of these parties is the lesser of the three evils that these armed militias represent. I personally think that Prime Minister Maliki is targeting the Mahdi Army, and now that Sadr is out of the government, can do so without fear of losing his post. I don’t believe that he is properly targeting the other two parties. He thinks that this is the opportune moment to get rid of the Mahdi Army in the south and won’t do a proper job of clearing Basra of the rest of the militants.
It may just be that the other two parties (who have infiltrated the local police and are elected officials) may be cooperating with the central government’s offensive so that they can eradicate the Mahdi army and move in on their own. Unless there is reformation of how these parties operate, the same problem will exist in another year or so.
March 28th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Well, let’s not go pointing fingers now. Just Thursday, the spokesman for the Iraqi government, Ali al-Dabbagh, made a point to say the Sadrists in Baghdad were exercising their democratic freedom by staging peaceful demonstrations in the capital. I think it’s easy to lump everything onto the Mahdi Army, especially in the American press, but it seems to be more of splinter groups of the Mahdi Army who are doing most of the fighting, as well as other Shiite militias — al-Hakim’s Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq’s Badr Organization and the Fadhila movement. I think Tuesday the BBC said Sadr was losing control of his organization anyhow, not to mention I think he “stepped down” last month to continue his clerical studies.
On the police front, that’s been a sore subject for quite some time. I think most of the police chiefs were sacked at one point not too long ago and the police force has long struggled with corruption from within and nepotism from Baghdad.
Regardless, this is certainly going to be interesting to see how this all works out considering the emphasis by U.S. military officials that Basra is an Iraqi fight for the most part.
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
[…] Fred Kaplan at Slate has a great article about the relationship between Iraq and Iran, as well as Iran and the US, especailly relating to the battle of Basra. Here’s the money quote. […]