In a speech to parliament, Nuri al-Maliki urged politicians on all sides to support his security plan, backed by 17,000 U.S. military reinforcements and seen by many as a last chance to halt sectarian violence in the capital.
"There will be no safe haven -- no school, no home, no (Sunni) mosque or Shi'ite osque. They will all be raided if they are turned into a launch pad for terrorism, even the headquarters of political parties," he said.
Much depends on how well the Iraqis carry out this fight. The parliament passed it unanimously, I heard elsewhere, which is certainly a good sign.
An earlier article I read that has since disappeared referred to the Iraqi code name as Operation Imposing Law. I do wish that the name of the operation didn't have such an unfortunate acronym. The nutroots will have a field day with this.
UPDATE: The field day is upon us. Conspiracy mongers should note that the English rendering of the Arabic name is probably the biggest problem. Somebody writing the story I cited might have been having a little politically motivated fun with their OIL translation.
Note the official name and a different translation here:
The government of Iraq and the coalition officially announced the name for the Baghdad security plan yesterday. The operation is named “Fardh Al-Qanoon,” an Iraqi phrase that translates to “Enforcing the Law.”
The title was agreed upon by the Iraqi government, with the support of coalition leaders, and reflects the Iraqi-led nature of the operation, military officials said.
"The plan is imposing the law on anyone who violates it," Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.
The "reality-based" community really needs to get a grip.
