Update on Adhamiyah battle
This morning I wrote about a battle in the Baghdad Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiyah that Reuters said, "smacks of open civil war." This is an update on that story.
The WaPo has a very disturbing piece in tomorrow's paper(A10) which talks about the total confusion about what actually went on in the 9 hour battle. Beyond the US, it is not even clear who the combatants were.
So, this was possibly a seven sided battle in which US forces, Iraqi army, Sunni "town watch," Sunni insurgents, Shia militia, Interior Ministry police and/or Iranian sympathizers were all possible combatants(and individuals may overlap groups just to add to the confusion.) But no one seems to be sure just who was shooting at who and why over the 7-9 hour battle.
Also of note, I think it's telling that the Iraqi Army may have been engaged against the Interior Ministry police who have reportedly been no more than a government run Shiite militia. (That's one of the main Sunni objections to Jaafari, by the way.)
Iraqi government forces engaged with other Iraqi government forces in open street warfare in the middle of Baghdad with partisans, guerillas and civilians all milling about in the mix.
What's the mission here, Mr. Rumsfeld? One day, US soldiers are sent out to fight Sunni insurgents, the next day "Al Qaeda terrorists," the next day, Shia militiamen. Who are we fighting for, Mr. Rumsfeld? Who are we fighting against? Does anyone even know anymore?
It's a civil war and the US soldier is stuck in the middle. I fear there is no more winning available for US forces, just killing and staying alive.
(Again, sorry for so much Iraq blogging today, but with open factional warfare in the streets of Baghdad and Iraq's government forces fighting openly with each other, I feel we're at a critical point.)
The WaPo has a very disturbing piece in tomorrow's paper(A10) which talks about the total confusion about what actually went on in the 9 hour battle. Beyond the US, it is not even clear who the combatants were.
U.S. and Iraqi soldiers thought they were shooting at insurgents who were trying to ambush them. Local men on neighborhood watch in the predominantly Sunni Arab area thought they were shooting at Shiites who were coming to kidnap and kill them.....
Kadhimi's account, vague as it was, was about as much as anyone outside Adhamiyah could figure out for certain. With rumor, speculation and fear filling the void of actual knowledge, the conflicting accounts resembled "Rashomon," the classic Akira Kurosawa film in which a crime takes place and each witness tells a completely different story of what happened.....
An Associated Press report, quoting a resident, said that Sunni gunmen went from house to house, pressing young men to join the fight.
So, this was possibly a seven sided battle in which US forces, Iraqi army, Sunni "town watch," Sunni insurgents, Shia militia, Interior Ministry police and/or Iranian sympathizers were all possible combatants(and individuals may overlap groups just to add to the confusion.) But no one seems to be sure just who was shooting at who and why over the 7-9 hour battle.
Also of note, I think it's telling that the Iraqi Army may have been engaged against the Interior Ministry police who have reportedly been no more than a government run Shiite militia. (That's one of the main Sunni objections to Jaafari, by the way.)
Iraqi government forces engaged with other Iraqi government forces in open street warfare in the middle of Baghdad with partisans, guerillas and civilians all milling about in the mix.
What's the mission here, Mr. Rumsfeld? One day, US soldiers are sent out to fight Sunni insurgents, the next day "Al Qaeda terrorists," the next day, Shia militiamen. Who are we fighting for, Mr. Rumsfeld? Who are we fighting against? Does anyone even know anymore?
It's a civil war and the US soldier is stuck in the middle. I fear there is no more winning available for US forces, just killing and staying alive.
(Again, sorry for so much Iraq blogging today, but with open factional warfare in the streets of Baghdad and Iraq's government forces fighting openly with each other, I feel we're at a critical point.)
posted by mikevotes at
9:27 PM
5 Comments:
Kind of breaks down the whole "us and them" paradigm. This forces people to look a little closer at what a "terrorist" is. War is always confusing, but this makes Lebanon in the 80s look straitforward.
The good thing is that the lines are so blurred, a full-scale civil war seems almost impossible. What would it even look like?
By
Praguetwin, at 6:08 AM
Kind of breaks down the whole "us and them" paradigm.
This is precisely the problem; an administration with a world view so stunted -- seeing everything in terms of black-or-white, good-or-evil, us-or-them -- is impotent at solving large and complex issues because it doesn't believe in complex issues. Indeed, such incompetence coupled with the violent power is often the downfall of empires.
By
-epm, at 6:24 AM
You just wish that Americans would have understood BEFORE the Iraq invasion that just because Saddam was an Arab strongman running a Middle eEastern country with an ironfist DIDN'T mean he had anything to do with 9/11.
But of course many Americans couldn't locate Iraq on a map if you asked them to, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that we're also ignorant of the differences in the region and how those differences truly affect U.S. interests.
By
Reality-Based Educator, at 8:06 AM
Mother of God. Welcome to the second liberation of Baghdad. This is going to be so ugly.
By
Anonymous, at 9:19 AM
There's another update today from Dahr Jamail who I respect that says his sources say that the US was fighting with the Shia militias at some point.
I've blogged it above this post under the TE lawrence quote.
And EPM, you've got it. The downfall of the empire. That's the whole reason I blog. And this battle may serve as one of the signposts historians look to in the fall of the American century.
Praguetwin, my guess is that it would look like a cross between Bosnia and the Congolese civil war. Ethnic cities under constant siege yet with the addition of multiple groups of foreign supported fighters of shifting allegiance.
Reality based, that's the whole issue. The Bush administration had a dreamlike view of what would happen when they took the cap off.
And, Libby, that's the reason I'm doing so much Iraq blogging right now. I think it is getting much worse right now.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 9:40 AM
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