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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Iraq (Links on Sadr in Iran)

The NYTimes highlights the prewar projections that Tommy Franks presented to the White House. (The BBC headlines it "delusional".)

(AP) The 173rd Airborne brigade has been diverted from Iraq to Afghanistan. (Not needed for "the surge?" Desperately needed in Afghanistan.)

(NYTimes) The militias and insurgents have mostly melted away in the face of the long announced Baghdad security plan. (The Iraqis are still coming in under force!!!!)

(Iraqslogger) (Treat this one as rumor) "Muqtada al-Sadr may have left Iraq without the knowledge of even his closest aides."

(Iraqslogger) "Az-Zaman commented on this information by saying that they confirm previous rumors regarding a “deal” to “smuggle Sadr and a number of the Mahdi Army leaders” into Iran." (Same report says that a Sadrist in US custody said that Sadr himself had ordered violence and Sadr fled out of fear of being on an arrest list.)

(Per Juan Cole) The US did hand an arrest list to the SCIRI controlled Interior Ministry, "so essentially the US is helping SCIRI remove its rivals among the Sadrists and Sunni Arabs."

(AFP) The Iraqi government "plays down" Sadr's trip; Sadr's aides still deny he is out of the country saying he might appear for tomorrow's prayers. (LATimes) Sadrist legislator claims to have seen Sadr in Najaf four days ago.

Update: Copy Editor points to two articles framing Sadr in Iran as a regrouping effort.

2 Comments:

  • Check the Guardian on Sadr. Then read all the machinations with Rubaie, Maliki, Iran, Hezbollah and the Quds Force on my post.

    Then rinse and repeat.

    By Blogger Bravo 2-1, at 11:22 AM  

  • Cool. Thanks for the pointers.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:34 PM  

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