Audio Archive > Cabale News Service > [March 26 2008] Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Encouraging "Endless War" - It's NOT A Good Idea To Pick A Fight With "The 800 Pound Gorilla In The Room" - The U.S And Iraqi Military Go After Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army
Travus T. Hipp - Cabale News Service[March 26 2008] Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Encouraging "Endless War" - It's NOT A Good Idea To Pick A Fight With "The 800 Pound Gorilla In The Room" - The U.S And Iraqi Military Go After Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army (March 26, 2008)
In The News: The war goes upscale! The US and Iraqi troops go after al Sadr's Mahdi Army. There has been an ultimatum delivered by the government to the shiite militia. Lay down your arms or else... GOOD LUCK! Details.
More from Juan Cole:
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sadrists clash with Iraqi, US forces in Basra; Curfews in Shiite cities
The truce between the Mahdi Army and the US military has broken down, putting a question mark over the future of the 'surge'.
Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that members of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI, formerly SCIRI, led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim); the Da'wa Party led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki; and the Badr Corps paramilitary of ISCI have fled their HQs in Basra and Kut, because of the threat that they will be stormed by Mahdi Army militiamen [seeking revenge for the current offensive], In fact, some such buildings already have been attacked.
Eyewitnesses reported clashes on Tuesday in Sadr City, east Baghdad, led by Mahdi Army militiamen against American and Iraqi forces. The latter had encircled Sadr City, while the Mahdi Army roamed its streets within. The sound of gunfire could be heard, and helicopter gunships were seen hovering above.
Nassar al-Rubaie, a leader of the Sadrist parliamentary bloc, announced that it would boycott parliamentary sessions until the targetting of his people ceased. The Sadrists have 30 seats in parliament.
Also in Baghdad on Tuesday, the Sadrists pursued a campaign of civil disobedience in Karkh and Rusafa to the west of Sadr City.
Al-Zaman says its sources in the Sadr Movement confirmed that the Mahdi Army has gained control of the main road between Amara and Basra, allowing it to cut the government troops off from military supplies. In Full
The annual report on Social Security and Medi-Care delivers a timeline. Payback of loans by the US government for loans made begins in 2017, and if things go WELL, the Social Security Trust Fund may bust by 2041. Medicare... next year?
A federal appeals court rules that the state of New York cannot make a relief law for passengers stuck on the ground in an airliner for more than 3 hours.
President Bush will ask congress to exempt Libya from terrorist asset confiscation laws now that Libya is no longer a terrorist country but an ally with oil.
The FBI is examining a parachute found buried near where D.B. Cooper was assumed to have hit the ground after jumping from an airliner with $200,000 dollars. If it IS his 'chute, and it WAS buried, that probably means he survived to spend the loot.
--30--
"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." Travus T. Hipp - Cabale News Service