Basra outcome too early to tell?
by Aamer Madhani
Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, today applauded Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s decision to send a division of Iraqi troops to the southern city of Basra last week in an attempt to weed out Mahdi Army fighters, but said it is too soon to tell whether it was a win or a loss for the Iraqi forces.
After six days of fierce fighting in Basra as well as some of the Shiite enclaves of Baghdad, Iraqi government officials and cleric Moqtada al-Sadr brokered a cease-fire. The deal came without the militiamen having to put down their weapons. Sadr also issued a nine-point list of demands.
“With respect to the outcome and the views of the outcome, my view of that, I think, it's really too soon to tell,” Mullen said today at a Pentagon news conference. “Clearly when Sadr put his nine points out, and there was compliance with that in a very short period of time, that had a significant effect obviously on the operation.”
As al-Maliki launched the operation, President Bush hailed the effort as a “defining moment” in Iraqi history. The Iraqis, after all, were showing some initiative on the security front.
But the uncertain outcome of the operation—in which U.S. and British forces assisted— has raised questions about the effectiveness of the fledgling Iraqi security forces.
Al-Maliki earlier this week called the operation a “success,” but the Joint Chiefs chairman didn’t declare victory today speaking with reporters.
“I really come at this from the point of view that I think it was very positive that the leader of a sovereign nation decided to make a move which was focused on providing for his own security, the security of his people,” Mullen said. “And in these kinds of situations, some things are going to go well and some things aren't. So as far as the overall outcome, I think, it's going to be a little while before we really understand the impact of it.”
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