“For decades we watched protesters in the Middle East burn the flags of America, the UK and Israel, as these countries were believed to represent the ‘enemies of the people.’ For the first time, we see protesters burn the flags of Iran, Russia and Hezbollah for a change! Are we witnessing a moment of redefining the ‘enemies of the people’ in the Middle East?”
News and analysis from Iraq the Model.
Comments Off on There’s still hope for the Arab Spring
Posted in Iraq, Israel, Scribbles, The War
Tagged burning iran russia and hezbollah flags for a change, hope for the arab spring, Iraq the Model
The booms that won’t be booming:
"Yesterday a joint US-Iraqi force with help from local anti-al-Qaeda awakening fighters in the Adhamiyah district in northeastern Baghdad found and disarmed more than 20 vehicles rigged as VBIEDs in a parking lot."
Talk about progress in the Iraq campaign. Wow.
Comments Off on Defusing car bombs
Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops
Tagged Iraq the Model, Northeast Baghdad, VBIEDs
Omar at Iraq the Model will keep an eye on Iraqi news media tomorrow when US and Iranian ambassadors are scheduled to meet for a chat:
"I can’t see the slightest hint to concessions from either side so I strongly think that tomorrow’s meeting will be only about America and Iran telling each other what they want. The face to face part is the only difference."
Omar at Iraq the Model sees disturbing similarity between the Mullah’s capture of the British troops and Saddam’s 1990 arrest, trial and execution of Iranian-British journalist Farzad Bazoft on charges of spying. Saddam, Omar says, was playing to his national audience, rather than the international one. So, he thinks, are the Mullahs to the Iranians, rather than the Brits or Americans. But he hopes the captives aren’t similarly treated. Some of Omar’s commenters are playing the old "he’s really CIA" song. Probably because President Bush recently endorsed the blog’s perceptivity.
The Syrian dictatorship, meanhwile, prepares to welcome House Speaker Pelosi, who apparently is running for the Dem nomination for president, or else she thinks foreign policy is made by the House.
Comments Off on What dictators do when war looms
Posted in The War
Tagged British detainees, Farzad Bazoft, Iraq the Model, Nancy Pelosi
The surge strategy is set to begin in Baghdad even as a market cleans up after a horrific bombing:
"There was notable deployment of Iraqi army units and armored vehicles on the streets yesterday. I saw one of those armored units establish battle positions at one of the important intersections in Baghdad; soldiers were erecting tents and the vehicles were set in defensive formations. Maybe that intersection will become the border of one of the nine sectors."
Rest is here.
Omar at Iraq the Model thinks the killings of those five American troops in Karbala last Saturday was not the usual insurgent or sectarian violence but more likely an inside job engineered by Iran with the cooperation of the local Iraqi police.
"…this was not just a brazen attack by some militia or terrorists; behind this is a message and a threat from Iran and its surrogates…"
If that proves to be true–and American troops are interrogating everyone involved–there might soon be some use for the strike fighters of those two carrier groups soon to be in the Persian Gulf.
Ben of Mesopotamia turns out to have known one of the slain and adds a bit of intel that backs Omar: "…my friend Captain Brian Freeman was killed in Karbala. (I don’t know if his family has been briefed on the details, so for now it suffices to say that Brian and four other members of his Civil Affairs team were killed by militia members, likely Jaish al Mahdi trained in Iran)."
UPDATE This Jan. 26 AP story, more careful than much of their Iraq reporting, is about the latest the military knows and is willing to disclose about the incident, in which Freeman died first and four others were abducted before being slain. Includes the unconfirmed idea that one of the attackers was a blonde.
A fairly heartbreaking, and arresting analysis of the coming surge by Mohammed at Iraq the Model:
"It is unfair to demand the impossible from the coming operations; total eradication of terrorism and militias within months is a long shot because the violence in Iraq is a result of domestic and regional conflicts that are not limited to Baghdad and it is part of heavy legacy of mistakes and evil the Baath era left."
Comments Off on Last chance talk unfair
Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops
Tagged Bush's last chance, Iraq the Model, the surge
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 