News agencies across the globe today reported that, thanks to the allied efforts of American, British and Iraqi forces, violence in Baghdad and the Shi’a stronghold of Sadr City, notoriously difficult to infiltrate due to the high concentration of heavily armed pro-Sadr Shi’i militias, was quelled last evening after almost a month of military operations in the area. This has been contextualized as a symbolic moment for the infant Iraqi army and not only by staunch Bush supporters and ‘cultivated’ military analysts. This portrayal of victory is not only an attempt to generate favorable news coverage for the administrations wartime performances, but is also being lauded by Iraqi government officials, military generals and foreign spokesmen. All is well in Iraq…good work boys.
Forgetting for the moment that four days ago many soldiers from the Iraqi units in Sadr city abandoned their posts in the heat of heavy gunfire and two weeks before that around 1000 Iraqi fighters deserted their posts in Basra, this situation begs a larger question in my mind than whether or not Sadr City’s militia group, specifically the Mahdi Army, have been disbanded there – which they have not.
This type of misconstrued analysis is indicative of a much larger problem in Iraq. These episodes have less to do with under prepared local soldiers or a lack of local re-enforcements although this fact should not be under-emphasized. It has much more to do with the ideological link they feel towards their fellow Iraqi’s especially those affiliated with a certain tribe or sect.
U.S. cash squads cannot, as they continue to assume, buy loyalty with briefcases full of money. We have seen this fail miserably before not only in Iraq but in Afghanistan as well. Services can be obtained for a few million dollars but loyalty; well that’s priceless. Allied forces should not be surprised when the dust settles and the guns are turned on them, once again.
