militias hiding guns and being nice till US leaves AGAIN

[rodeodance]

> Posted on Sat, Jan. 13, 2007
> Mahdi Army lowers its profile, anticipating arrival of U.S. troops
> By Leila Fadel and Zaineb Obeid
> McClatchy Newspapers
>
> BAGHDAD, Iraq - Mahdi Army militia members have stopped wearing their
> black uniforms, hidden their weapons and abandoned their checkpoints
> in an apparent effort to lower their profile in Baghdad in advance of
> the arrival of U.S. reinforcements.
>
> "We have explicit directions to keep a low profile . . . not to
> confront, not to be dragged into a fight and to calm things down,"
> said one official who received the orders from the anti-American
> Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
>
>
> Al-Sadr heads the Mahdi Army, Iraq's largest Shiite militia,
> headquartered in Najaf.
>
>
> The official asked not to be named because he was not authorized to
> reveal the militia's plans.
>
>
> Militia members say al-Sadr ordered them to stand down shortly after
> President George Bush's announcement that the U.S. would send 17,500
> more American troops to Baghdad to work alongside the Iraqi security
> forces.
>
>
> The decision by al-Sadr to lower his force's profile in Baghdad will
> likely cut violence in the city and allow American forces to show
> quick results from their beefed up presence. But it is also unlikely
> in the long term to change the balance of power here. Mahdi Army
> militiamen say that while they remain undercover now, they are simply
> waiting for the security plan to end.

[Double T]

1. al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army, like al-Qaeda, are in no hurry...........

and will wait it out, THEN attack or restart their ambushes when 'WE' least expect it and assume 'mission accomplished part __'. bushco ASSUMES everyone is a total idiot.

[bullimiami]

2. its a matter of being smart and not fighting a war you cant win.

of course they cant stand in the face of our military war machine so they roll with the punches and wait because they want to win the war not just a battle.

[gratuitous]

3. Whatwhatwhat?

They're not just going to come marching out in lines, holding their guns and their Al Qaeda membership cards in front of them asking for the nearest freckle-faced, star-spangled all American sojer to fill them full of lead? Those sneaky varmints are going to lay low until the heat's off? Where in the world would they learn to do something like that?

I'll tell you: Librul Hollywood! It's a staple of all those gangster movies that the bad guy runs to earth when the dragnet comes out, holing up in his hideout until the cops get tired of looking for him. It's all the libruls' fault, consarn it! Why isn't Rush on this? Has he finally and at last been co-opted by the libruls? Save us, Mel Gibson!

[Drifter]

4. At least somebody ....

in this war has a plan.

Clearly the AWOL cowboy doesn't.

This why the same ole plan is not going to work, just like it didn't work the last time.

Cheers
Drifter