Iraqi forces Basra operation

Washington Post:

A fragile cease-fire in the southern city of Basra appeared to hold Wednesday, despite isolated clashes between Iraqi security forces and local militias and a roadside bombing that targeted an Iraqi military convoy.

An Iraqi Defense Ministry official was wounded and two of his bodyguards were killed when a bomb exploded near their convoy in the Hayaniyah neighborhood, according to an Iraqi police official in Basra who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Two other Iraqi military officials were wounded during clashes in another part of the city, Qibla, as they fought members of the Mahdi Army militia, the official said.

On March 25, Iraqi forces launched a broad offensive against militias that controlled large portions of the oil-rich port city, drawing fierce resistance that lasted until Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Sunday ordered his Mahdi Army to stand down, apparently in exchange for guarantees that his forces would not be targeted.

Some Shiite politicians have assailed the operation, describing it as a politically motivated offensive that exposed weaknesses in Iraq's security forces and the simmering tension among Shiite factions vying to strengthen their power in Basra ahead of provincial elections envisioned for the fall.

Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, on Wednesday described the Iraqi government's offensive as a strike against "criminal gangs" that led to the seizure of "heavy machine guns" and more than $250,000 in U.S. currency.

U.S. and British forces supported the Iraqi effort, but Bergner appeared to distance the coalition from the offensive. "The operations in Basra during the last week were Iraqi-conceived, Iraqi-planned and Iraqi-led in a province under provincial Iraqi control," Bergner said.

He said that most Iraqi soldiers performed well but acknowledged that some "were not up to the task."

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Kimberly Kagan makes the point that Congress had put fighting the militias on its benchmarks for the Iraqi government, but now Democrats act as if doing so is a failure of the government. What they and much of the media seem to want is a non violent farewell to arms by the militias. The chances of that happening are beyond remote and the Democrats know this, so they are apparently using the bench mark as a Catch 22 instead of a good faith effort to help the Iraqis solve their problems.

The Washington Post Editorial Board also gets it. "... the fact that an Iraqi government commonly described as impotent and inert now is willing and able to fight Shiite militias is a step in the right direction."