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Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Remember El Sadr?
Has anyone noticed that Al Sadr, "cleric" and leader of the Mahdi army, has disappeared quietly from the "quagmire" news cycle?
Last week, Sheik al-Sadr surrendered.He called on what was left of his men to cease operations and said he may one day seek public office in a democratic Iraq.
Gen. Hertling said Mahdi's Army is defeated, according the Army's doctrinal definition of defeat. A few stragglers might be able to fire a rocket- propelled grenade, he said, but noted: "Do they have the capability of launching any kind of offensive operation? Absolutely not."
The division estimates it killed at least several thousand militia members.
Gen. Dempsey designed "Iron Saber" based on four pillars: massive combat power; information operations to discredit Sheik al-Sadr; rebuilding the Iraqi security forces that fled; and beginning civil affairs operations as quickly as possible, including paying Iraqis to repair damaged public buildings.
"As soon as we finished military operations, we immediately began civil- military operations," said Gen. Hertling. "We crossed over from bullets to money."
The strike into Kut was followed by an incursion into Diwaniyah. Then an 18-tank battalion entered Karbala, a holy city where precision operations were needed to spare religious shrines. Then soldiers moved into Najaf and Kufa, where Sheik al-Sadr was hiding out and where about 3,000 of his fighters occupied government buildings, mosques, amusement parks and schools.
Just not news anymore. Not when there's a 9/11 commission report to misrepresent and Clinton book to flog.
Posted by Kate McMillan on June 23, 2004 | Permalink
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