Decision ‘08

Iraq Update: Disband the Militias

Mohammed at Iraq the Model brings us an update on the situation, and it’s more good than bad. First, the bad: Mohammed says it is clear that the clerics are manipulating the ’spontaneous’ reactions to this latest atrocity and he lays blame on both Sunni and Shia. The good news, however, is that life is returning to normal (which is to say, still very tense, no doubt), and Mohammed sees an opportunity:

In spite of the attempts of clerics to look like as if they were the defenders of national unity with all their meetings, joint prayers and hugs, the political leaderships got a sense of their growing danger and the meeting at Jafari’s home (which al-Hakeem didn’t attend) showed that the government is keen to keep the country intact and the government systems as functional as possible to contain the crisis. This meeting indicates that politicians have realized that those clerics whether Sunni or Shia are the origin of the problem and are ready to coup on even their political allies which made the politicians more aware of the danger imposed by clerics on the project of building a state ruled by the law.

Clerics will not stop and they will carry on with their plans and I suspect they will launch the next phase of their plan soon after they received instructions from Syria (the Muslim scholars) and from Iran (the Sadrists).

The objective of the second phase will to move the conflict from one on the streets to a conflict with America. That’s not my personal opinion, but it’s what clerics themselves are saying including Muqtada who returned from Qum in Iran to organize a joint Sunni-Shia demonstration against the occupation!!

Now the government has rise[sic] to the level of the challenge and proceed to take the most important and critical step and disband religious militias of all sorts and limit the influence of clerics-of any sect-in the decision-making process.

I think this is the best time for the new government to tackle this issue as the government now has all the factors that make such a move legitimate and necessary.

Would that it were so - I seriously doubt the government will summon that resolve, but let’s hope he’s right…

One Response to “Iraq Update: Disband the Militias”

1 Decision ‘08 » Blog Archive » A Bloody, Bloody Toll Says:
February 27th, 2006 at 11:21 pm
[…] Earlier today, I noted how Mohammed, blogging from Baghdad with Iraq the Model, called for the government to seize the initiative and take on the militias. Now, we can see why he was so adamant… […]