The Price Of Posturing

The abduction of Sheikh Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, a spokesman for Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr, was more evidence of US posturing; al-Darraji has no military role, as well the US knows, however he is a visible face of the Mahdi army and Sayyed al-Sadr. Thus the United States saw some propaganda capital in taking him and his two cousins (since released) prisoner; a move which was not sanctioned by the Iraqi government. However, unlike earlier posturing in Um al-Maalef where the Mahdi army were prepared to play along, this incident, which led to the death of a bodyguard, caused real annoyance.

Falah Shanshal a Sadrist legislator reminded the Government that it was in breach of the deal to halt "attacks targeting Al-Sadr's movement," and demanded al-Darraji's immediate release. Following which, 19 US servicemen were killed in Karbala and Eight British troops were injured in Basra injured in reprisal attacks by the Mahdi army.

It is also noteworthy, that since the United States illegally abducted five Iranian diplomats, over 30 US soldiers have been killed by forces the US claimed that Iran was supporting. The US justification for taking this diplomats hostage was to prevent attacks on US soldiers, even though the Iraqi government recognises that the Iranian diplomats were not involved in any such activity.

Thus this US posturing has resulted in the forfeit of more Occupation forces and further weakened the US Government's already untenable position in Iraq. I said in an earlier post:

"This is little more than posturing and ill-advised: posturing has not served the United States well in Iraq - it has resulted in the death of over 3,000 US military personnel."