Sunday, April 06, 2008

The Campaign Against Sadr Continues

As I've mentioned, the campaign against Sadr will last a while. The failure of Round Three to completely smash the Sadrists did not mean the campaign had failed.

The need to reign in Sadr has been apparent for years. And with the Sunni enemy surrendering or dying as we pursue them, the government has been able to go after the Sadrists and the Iranian stooges.

The campaign is indeed continuing with our forces assisting in making the point that the militias need to turn in their heavy weapons as Maliki demanded early in Round Three:

Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces battled gunmen in Baghdad's Sadr City on Sunday, a return to heavy fighting in the capital after Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled his militiamen off the streets a week ago. ...

Iraqi soldiers were moving through two southern sectors of Sadr City, a Shi'ite slum of 2 million people and stronghold of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, said U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover. U.S. helicopters fired at least two Hellfire missiles, killing nine fighters, he added. ...

Police said the joint U.S.-Iraqi military operation began early on Sunday. Gunfire could be heard throughout the day.

Lieutenant-General Abboud Qanbar, head of the Iraqi military in Baghdad, said all armed groups must hand in their weapons.

"If they refuse to surrender their arms, we will confiscate them," Qanbar told reporters at a police station in Sadr City.


It was all well and good for the Sadrists to push around civilians, but now they face Iraqi and US troops willing to kill them. And the week of Round Three left about 1,400 Sadrists dead or wounded. We shall see how eager the militias are to go into the meat grinder again.

Explain to me again how Sadr won a great victory during Round Three?