General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq who hinted months ago that he wanted to halt troop reductions after the “surge” was unwound this summer, will be under pressure on Tuesday to provide details about the “pause” when he appears before lawmakers in Congress.
The length of the pause will determine how many US troops remain in Iraq when the next president takes office. Many experts expect to see more US soldiers in Iraq in January 2009 than two years earlier, when President George W. Bush ordered a surge of 30,000 additional forces.Speculation about the length of the pause ranges from several weeks to several months. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs, recently suggested that Gen Petraeus might not provide a timetable. “Clearly, we’re going to stop at the end of July reducing forces [and] take a period of time,” said Adm Mullen, the top military adviser to the president. “I’m just not prepared to say it’s 45 days, or it’s 60, or it’s 120. ”Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, in September expressed the hope that post-surge reductions could continue at a pace that would see troop levels fall from a high of about 170,000 to 100,000 by the end of this year.Gen Petraeus has since persuaded Mr Gates, however, to have a period of assessment after the surge before ordering further reductions.Most experts expect Gen Petraeus to make the same argument before Congress on Tuesday. The four-star general may bolster his case by pointing to the recent violence in Basra, where Iraqi security forces launched an offensive against Shia militias.Democrats, in contrast, will argue that the poorly planned military campaign reinforces the case for the US to withdraw troops to put pressure on Nouri al-Maliki.The Iraqi prime minister launched the Basra military offensive saying he would stamp out “criminal” elements in the southern port city, but abandoned the campaign in the face of strong resistance. Two military sources said Mr Maliki had threatened to resign and head to Syria if his campaign was not successful.Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Senate armed services committee, last week said the Basra offensive showed that Mr Maliki was an “excessively sectarian, incompetent” leader who engaged in dramatic “flip-flops”.Some experts believe Mr Maliki was trying to weaken Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia cleric who leads the Mahdi army of Shia militias, ahead of provincial elections later this year.But Stephen Biddle, a former adviser to Gen Petraeus, says the offensive may have jeopardised other ceasefires across Iraq. These included, he said, former Sunni insurgents who have joined “concerned local citizens” groups that have been credited with contributing to the decline in violence in Iraq over the past 10 months.Mr Levin said the US should send a wake-up shot across the bow of the Iraqi government by withdrawing more troops instead of having an “open-ended pause”.Gen Petraeus will also face questioning from the three US presidential contenders. While Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidates, have called for an accelerated withdrawal, some observers believe their immediate interests are closely aligned with John McCain, the Republican nominee, who supports a strong troop presence in Iraq.One expert said a larger troop presence would allow a Democratic president to follow through on campaign pledges to reduce troops, but still maintain a significant presence, if necessary.Steve Clemons, a foreign policy expert at the New America Foundation, says the Obama and Clinton camps are “not yet ready” to deal with the reality of withdrawing from Iraq.He says they are worried that increased violence, or another terrorist act, would create the perception that they were “appeasing the bad guys” rather than addressing the threat.
Iranian Minister Admits Inflation 'Failure'
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economy minister on Sunday admitted Iran's government had failed to control rampant inflation, which figures showed rose to 18.4percent in the last Iranian year.
Rockets kill 3 U.S. troops, wound 31
cnn Monday, April 7, 2008 3:15:00 AM CEST
Three U.S. soldiers were killed and 31 others wounded in two rocket attacks Sunday afternoon in Baghdad, the U.S. military said....
Rocket Attacks Kill 2 Soldiers In Green Zone, 1 on U.S. Base
WashingtonPost_B Monday, April 7, 2008 3:14:00 AM CEST
Other categories:TerroristAttack;
BAGHDAD, April 6 -- Three U.S. service members were killed and dozens were wounded Sunday in rocket attacks on the fortified Green Zone and a military base in Baghdad, the U.S. military said....
5 killed in Sadr City clashes, as gunmen kidnap 42 students
kuwaittimes Monday, April 7, 2008 2:34:00 AM CEST
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Published Date: April 07, 2008 BAGHDAD: Clashes in Baghdad's Shiite district of Sadr City left five dead and more than a dozen wounded, police said yesterday. In the north, police said gunmen seized 42 students off a bus near the city of Mosul, al-Qaida's last major urban stronghold....
Troops, Mahdi Army clashes claim 20
thepeninsulaqatar Monday, April 7, 2008 2:04:00 AM CEST
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Other categories:TerroristAttack;
BAGHDAD • Fierce clashes between Shia gunmen and US forces in the Iraqi capital's Sadr City district killed at least 20 people yesterday, amid calls from Iraqi leaders for all militias to be disbanded. In northern Iraq, meanwhile, Iraq's security forces freed 42 university students who had been kidnapped by gunmen, a local army commander said....
US air strike kills nine in Baghdad
dailytimesPK Monday, April 7, 2008 1:39:00 AM CEST
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Other categories:TerroristAttack; TAXUD;
* Shia-US clashes leave 20 dead * US vows to ‘aggressively pursue’ armed criminals, Al Qaeda in Iraq BAGHDAD: A United States air strike in Baghdad’s Shia district of Sadr City killed at least nine people on Sunday, the American military told AFP The strike killed “nine criminals in Sadr City at.......
Iran Receives US Official Note to Hold Talks on Iraq
Iran has received an official note from the US to hold the fourth round of talks on Iraq, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said on Monday.
Tehran's Murderous Role
April 07, 2008 The Washington Times Washington Times Editorial
The explosion of violence which started in Basra and spread to other cities across Iraq late last month is just the latest reminder of the destructive role that Iran is playing in the region. The violence began when the Iraqi Army attempted to disarm Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, a radical Shi'ite militia with longstanding ties to Tehran. Nearly 500 people died in five days of fighting which began March 25 and spread to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.On March 30, Sheik al-Sadr declared a "cease-fire." Yet intermittent battles have erupted since then between the Iraqi military and police, the Mahdi Army and other Shi'ite militias and criminal gangs loosely affiliated with the militias. Sharon Behn of The Washington Times reported Saturday that militiamen loyal to the Mahdi Army leader are positioning explosives to defend their stronghold in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood in anticipation of a major battle with U.S. and Iraqi government forces.Bill Roggio, who blogs from Iraq and Afghanistan for the Longwarjournal.org, notes that Iraqi intelligence officials have said that senior Hezbollah military commander Imad Mugniyah, who was slain in Damascus two months ago, helped form the Mahdi Army in April 2003 after the fall of Saddam Hussein; some 300 fighters recruited from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia underwent military training with Hezbollah in Lebanon. In an August 2007 interview with the Independent, a British newspaper, Sheik al-Sadr explained the Mahdi Army's relationship with Hezbollah this way. "We have formal links with Hezbollah, we do exchange ideas and discuss the situation facing Shi'ites in both countries," he said. "We copy Hezbollah in the way they fight and their tactics, we teach each other."According to U.S. military officials in Iraq, the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has played an extensive role in funnelling arms to Iraqi Shi'ite militias. Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, spokesman for the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq, on Wednesday called on the Iranian government to "fulfill its pledge to halt the flow of weapons, of training, of funding, and of other resources that the criminal groups are dependent upon here." Gen. Bergner referred to interrogations last year of Qais Khazali, a Shi'ite radical captured last spring who implicated the Quds force in the killing of American servicemen. Khazali and a Hezbollah operative captured by coalition forces said that the senior leadership of the Quds force were responsible for a January 2007 ambush in Karbala in which five American soldiers were killed. One soldier died in the ambush, carried out by attackers wearing American-style military uniforms. The other four soldiers were kidnapped and killed later.Khazali "told us in his own words that there was no way that [Iranian] special forces could conduct the attacks that they were conducting without the support of the Iranian Quds force and their network that was training, equipping, funding and assisting special groups in undertaking these criminal activities. We have seen the continued use of Iranian-manufactured and -supplied rockets, mortars and explosively-formed penetrators," Gen. Bergner added on Wednesday. "And in fact, we have captured individuals who tell us that they have recently been to Iran and been trained by the Quds Force operatives." In an interview late last month, Sheik al-Sadr reportedly demanded Khazali's release.McClatchey Newspapers reported last weekend that the cease-fire was brokered by Iraqi members of parliament who traveled to Iran last week to persuade the commander of the Quds Force, Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, to get Sheik al-Sadr to agree to a halt the fighting. All of this suggests that when it suits Tehran's purposes, Sheik al-Sadr will see to it that a new round of violence will "spontaneously" occur in Iraq.Thus far, U.S. military and diplomatic officials have shied away from directly criticizing Sheik al-Sadr's links with the Iranian government. It will be interesting to see whether Gen. David Petraeus or Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who begin their next round of congressional testimony tomorrow, would be willing to speak on the record about how the Mahdi Army does Tehran's dirty work in Iraq.
Iran receives U.S. request for new talks on Iraq security People's Daily 11:58
Iran Willing To Resume Talks With U.S. Over Iraq's Security Nasdaq 11:57
British Fear US Commander is Beating the Drum for Iran Strikes
British officials gave warning yesterday that America's commander in Iraq will declare that Iran is waging war against the US-backed Baghdad government. A strong statement from General David Petraeus about Iran's intervention in Iraq could set the stage for a US attack on Iranian military facilities, according to a Whitehall assessment. In closely watched testimony in Washington next week, Gen Petraeus will state that the Iranian threat has risen as Tehran has supplied and directed attacks by militia fighters against the Iraqi state and its US allies.
Iran: Hezbollah and Tehran's Sunni Gambit
April 05, 2008 Stratfor Stratfor Today
Hezbollah has been wooing Sunni religious scholars in Lebanon, according to a source in Lebanon. This Shiite courting of Sunnis sheds light on the Iranian bid to bridge ideological and religious divides to spread its influence in the Middle East.
Iran Torpedoes US Plans For Iraqi Oil
What has happened is essentially that Iran has frustrated the joint US-British objective of gaining control of Basra, without which the strategy of establishing control over the fabulous oil fields of southern Iraq will not work.
Oil Behind Israel's Iran Links
If you’ve ever wondered about the definition of hypocrisy you’ll find the answer right here. Last month the Swiss foreign minister visited Iran and, together with President Ahmadinejad, attended the signing of a multibillion euro contract for Iran to supply Switzerland with large amounts of natural gas over the next 25 years.
Intelligence Officials Downplay Iran Report
The contested U.S. intelligence conclusion that Iran stopped work on its nuclear weapons program in 2003 is now being downplayed by the same officials who wrote the much-publicized report in November
Sadr to be barred from politics unless militia disbanded: Iraqi PM (AFP)
news-yahoo Monday, April 7, 2008 - AFP - Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will be sidelined from politics unless he disbands his militia, Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki warned on Monday as fresh fighting erupted in Baghdad....
Iraq Briefing : 03 April 2008
شنبه، 17 فروردین ماه 1387 برابر با 2008 Saturday 05 April
حمله نیروهای پژاک به یک پایگاه رژیم در مریوان
گزارش دریافتی: در طی روزهای گذشته تعدادی از گریلاهای HRK ( شاخه نظامی حزب حیات آزاد کردستان PJAK ) در پاسخ به کاتیوشاها و توپباران کردن کمپهایشان از سوی رژیم در کوهستانهای قندیل، اقدام به یک عملیات نظامی در منطقهی مریوان نمودهند.
بر اساس گزارشات گریلاهای PJAK یک پایگاه رژیم را در منطقهی هورامان مابین شهر مریوان و شهر دزلی مورد حمله قرار داده و در نتیجهی این یورش ، شش تن از نیروهای رژیم به هلاکت رسیده و یک ماشین نیز کاملآ منهدم شده است.
این حمله در حالی صورت میگیرد که رژیم متجاوز اسلامی ایران همچنان در حال توپ باران نمودن کوهستانهای قندیل بوده و مردم زیادی از اهالی این مناطق آواره گردیدهاند و زیانهای مالی و جانی به مردم جنوب کردستان وارد گردیده است.
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