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Sunday, May 16, 2004

Iraq Stuff (Too Lazy To Think Of Title) 

Mohammed Abdul-Latif, heading the Iraqi security forces in Fallujah, has evidently used his position not to incite anti-US sentiments, but to encourage local leaders to cooperate with the Coalition forces (via Neale).

While I still feel that the decision to place a Saddam-era general in charge of Fallujah was a major PR coup for the bad guys (and thus might still be a minus in the big picture), the decision may prove to be beneficial to the Coalition in the immediate vicinity of Fallujah, at least.

This, of course, comes after the Marines hammed it up the first time by planning to bring back a Republican Guard commander who helped in crushing the Shiite rebellion of 1991.

Meanwhile, less than four days after a deal to end Sadr's rebellion in the south seemed imminent, the Mehdi "Army" seems to be somewhat more trigger-happy. Now, I'm not one to believe that a rag-tag bunch like the Sadrists are gonna get a whole lot more powerful in less than 100 hours, so I still believe that their time is running out. But I doubt that the Abu Gharib abuse demoralized them in any way.

While the Abu Gharib abuses continues to dominate the airwaves, the events that will really shape what happens in Iraq in the future are being missed by the media.

As for the New Yorker article accusing Rumsfeld of expanding SPAs in Iraq, this one is going to be a bunch of anonymous "sources" pointing fingers, and the Pentagon's rebuttal will involve a lot of confidential information, so for once I think a Senate hearing would be able to find out more than laymen will.
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