News that Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki was defeated by the pro-Iranian Mahdi Army is lost on the residents of Basra
Three weeks after Iraqi troops swarmed into the southern city of Basra to take on armed militiamen who had overrun the streets, many residents say they feel safer and that their lives have improved.
The fierce fighting which marked the first week of Operation Sawlat al-Fursan (Charge of the Knights) has given way to slower, more focused house-by-house searches by Iraqi troops, which led on Monday to the freeing of an abducted British journalist.
Residents say the streets have been cleared of gunmen, markets have reopened, basic services have been resumed and a measure of normality has returned to the oil-rich city.
The port of Umm Qasr is in the hands of the Iraqi forces who wrested control of the facility from Shiite militiamen, and according to the British military it is operational once again.
After the gunfight, the militia's leader Muqtada al-Sadr graciously offered conditions for a cease-fire
Just as the new Iraqi forces began to arrive in Basrah and US and British forces were gearing up to augment the Iraqi military, Muqtada al Sadr, under orders from Iran’s Qods Force, called for his fighters to withdraw from the streets. Sadr issued a nine-point list of demands, which included that operations cease.
All nine points were rejected and the Iraqi Army and security forces remain in control of the city
...the city is flooded with troops, innumerable checkpoints constantly snarl the traffic, residents are scared to go out at night despite the curfew being relaxed, and the sound of sporadic gunfire can still be heard.
An AFP correspondent said three northwestern neighbourhoods once under the firm control of the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr -- Al-Hayaniyah, Khamsamile and Garma -- are now encircled by Iraqi troops who are carrying out door-to-door searches.
Two other neighbourhoods once dominated by the Mahdi Army, Al-Qiblah in the southwest and Al-Taymiyyah in the centre, have been cleared of weaponry and many people have been arrested, military officials say.
Residents expressed relief at the improved security.
The performance of the Iraqi Army was mixed, and a number of Iraqi soldier and policemen were fired. But that just serves to strengthen, not weaken these organizations. And Maliki isn't stopping there. My favorite crew of soldiers, the 1st Battailion, 14th Infantry Regiment is stryking at the Madhi Army's home base in the Sadr City section of Baghdad. They are working with the Iraqi Army, again, with mixed results.
A company of Iraqi soldiers abandoned their positions on Tuesday night in Sadr City, defying American soldiers who implored them to hold the line against the Shiite militias.
The retreat left a crucial stretch of road on the front lines undefended for hours and led to a tense series of exchanges between American soldiers and about 50 Iraqi troops who were fleeing.
Capt. Logan Veath, the commander of Company B, the U.S. unit on the scene, pleaded with the Iraqi major who was leading his troops away from the Sadr City fight, urging him to return to the front.
"If you turn around and go back up the street those soldiers will follow you," Veath said. "If you tuck tail and cowardly run away they will follow up that way, too."
Veath's pleas failed...
But other, less cowardly elements of the IA filled in
...senior American and Iraqi commanders mounted an urgent effort to regain the lost ground. An elite Iraqi unit was rushed in and with the support of the Americans began to fight its way north...
Senior Iraqi commanders hurried to the scene and a special Iraqi reconnaissance unit was ordered to advance up the road. With the help of an American bomb-clearing unit, Stryker vehicles and attack helicopters, the Iraqis rumbled north, spraying rounds as they went. According to the last reports monitored by Company B, the Iraqis were stopped short by several roadside bombs, and planned to resume the push in daylight.
Regardless, if the defeat of Sadr's Mahdi Army which is seeminly inevitable at this point is Maliki's failure, then what is it for al-Sadr?
And Iran....
