Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Sarge
Al-Sadr is a Shiite extremist closely aligned with Iran. Their base of operations is near the holy shrines in Karbala (I was stationed there for about 6 months). There is no way al-Sadr can be a member of AQIZ or ISIS.
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Sahdr (Al-Sadr) is a Shiite. But not necessary aligned with Maliki (a Shiite). And not necessary aligned with Iran's Republican Guards. This volatile situation has numerous parties with much in-fighting. Some even mistakenly associate ISIS with Al Qadea - a name to paint extremists as evil.
A new failure has probably been discovered. Some extremist Sunni groups have now obtained maybe $1.2 billion from conquered cities. As well as plenty of American provided armour. These extremists would have obtained most needed resources.
President Ford was in a similar situation. Did he deploy troops to S Vietnam. Or concede to what even Kennedy had been slowly discovering as inevitable. Iraq's problems are also directly traceable to its leaders. Any American deployment mean all parties will also hate and attack Americans. Its their problem to solve. We can offer assistance for the eventual negotiated settlement. But at this point, Iraqis must decide who they want to be.
Concepts defined by Tom Friedman apply. A humiliated population is ripe for extremist recruiters and a resulting civil war. Making it more difficult for anyone to remain a moderate.