Progressive World Review

        Tensions in Iraq increased today as clashes between Basra Shiites led by al-Sadr and Iraqi Security Forces continued.  There were reports of rocket attacks and a high-profile Iraqi official was kidnapped as thousands hit the streets protesting the Iraqi army’s crackdown against the Shiite militia, reports The Washington Post,

Thousands of supporters of hard-line cleric Moqtada al-Sadr poured into the streets of the Iraqi capital Thursday to protest an ongoing security crackdown against Sadr’s militia, as clashes continued in the southern city of Basra, new rocket attacks struck near the U.S. Embassy and a high-profile Iraqi security official was kidnapped.

Prime Minister al-Maliki pledged not to let up, vowing not to retreat, “We entered this battle with determination, and we will continue to the end,” “No retreat. No talks. No negotiations.”  President Bush made similar remarks in an Ohio speech, “[security] is going to take some time to complete,” Bush said Thursday, but in the end will “demonstrate to the Iraqi people that their government is committed to protect them.”

        When al-Maliki says “we” it’s becoming increasingly difficult to understand who he’s referring to.  It certainly can’t be the Sunnis whose insurgency caused so much havoc previously, nor is it likely he’s talking about the Kurds who would rather split off and form their own country.  The only other group of Iraqi nationals would be the Shiites, the very one’s who are rising up against the al-Maliki government,

In the capital, demonstrators rallied in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City and the neighborhood of Kazimiyah, carrying a coffin decorated with a picture of Maliki — a symbol of the political risks he has run by ordering Iraqi security forces to move against the Mahdi Army and other politically backed armed gangs in Basra.

“Maliki, keep your hands off. People do not want you,” the group chanted as the Basra operation entered its third day. Clashes there, and related violence in Baghdad, Hilla and Kut have killed close to 200 people, according to an Associated Press report based on accounts from Iraqi police and hospital officials. (emphasis added)

        Of course this is an over-simplification as the Shiites as a whole are not one homogenous group, there are different factions with different loyalties, some of whom support al-Maliki.  But given the fact that the Iraqi government’s control over Iraq has never reached beyond the Green Zone in any meaningful way as well as the recent events where his own people are fighting him, leaves little doubt that the Iraqi government is little more than an American puppet regime not unlike the Diem government of Viet Nam that we failed so miserably to support.

        Invariably, this is the result when you meddle in other people’s affairs and try to mold their societies in your own image.  For all Bush’s talk of democracy, our adventure in Iraq was nothing more than old fashioned imperialism, trying to influence the middle-east to support our own interests (oil), all the while ignoring as insignificant, what the people of the region actually want for themselves.

–Paul Wilden

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