The Maliki/Ahmadinejad photo-op
Via Yahoo! News, this is the photo-op one of the journalists at today’s White House press conference was referring to this morning:
Yes, President Bush should be concerned:
Wednesday, Maliki held private talks on security with Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, followed by a photo-op showing him hand in hand with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and a meeting with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He also discussed plans for Iran to build a power station in Baghdad’s Shiite Sadr City district and supplies of 400,000 tons of kerosene and liquid gas
Meanwhile, in Sadr City:
An American raid and airstrike killed 32 people in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City on Wednesday, in what American military officials described as an assault on a militant network bringing in money and bombs from Iran.
The American attack coincided with an expanded curfew across Baghdad for a Shiite religious festival welcoming tens of thousands to the capital, and with a trip to Iran by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for discussions about security.
Hospital officials in the Sadr City district of Baghdad said that the American airstrike had killed or wounded several civilians, including a child, though the military disputed that account.
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, an American military spokesman here, said the airstrike was called in against suspected gunmen who were surrounding a vehicle and who were moving toward American troops who had been taking fire. He said 30 people around the vehicle were killed, and 2 more died during the raid, all of them combatants.
“They called in an airstrike on a tactical formation of individuals, on people who were operating as a tactical unit,” Colonel Garver said. “Those are the ones who were hit.”
American military raids causing Iraqi deaths, particularly in Sadr City, frequently lead to conflicting stories. Residents describe some or all of the victims as innocent, while American military statements typically describe those killed by American weapons as militants. In most cases, neither side can provide definitive proof.
Colonel Garver said intelligence indicated that at least one of the intended targets of the raid — in which 12 people were detained — acted as a liaison between the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Shiite Iraqi militias responsible for killing American troops with lethal roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or E.F.P.’s. He declined to provide evidence about any link between the groups or to say whether troops found bomb-making materials in the buildings that they raided.
“As we exploit information and we’re ready to release information, we will,” he said.
The NYTimes also quotes Lt. Col. Steven M. Miska, whom Bryan Preston and I spent time with during our embed in January, on the complex security situation in Khadamiya, where there’s a big Shiite pilgrimage taking place:
Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, imposed a ban on driving in the capital as thousands of Shiite pilgrims began moving toward a shrine to mark the anniversary of the death of a revered figure, Imam Musa al-Kadhim.
Lt. Col. Steven M. Miska, deputy commander of the brigade responsible for the area around the shrine, said American troops were working carefully to protect pilgrims and reduce tensions with Iraqi security forces.
Colonel Miska described cooperation with Iraqi troops as “a complex relationship” after a clash that erupted in April between some of his units and men in Iraqi Army uniforms. Iraqi officials accused the Americans of attacking a mosque serving as the headquarters of the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, a charge the Americans denied. Colonel Miska and his men said the battle confirmed that some of the Iraqi security forces they aimed to help were in fact filled with militiamen who were their enemies.
For the most comprehensive compilation of war news and analysis, read The Dawn Patrol.
***
Andy Bostom was questioning the disturbing Shi’ite alliance last September.
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Are they dating?
Males holding hands is custom in the middle east. I wouldn’t be too worried about it,
Has anyone noticed how a lot of the dictators throughout history have been really short? (Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong-Il, Napoleon, etc.)
Enjoyed the Pics, suffering from envy!
If the liberals have a problem with the USA being in Iraq, what are they going to do when Iran finally overplays their hand (I mean they have overplayed their hand but you would never know it if you ask a liberal).
Maliki = tool
It’s called “small man syndrome.” LOL!
This is bothersome, I hate to see Iraq team up with Iran! Why in hell would Iran build a power plant in Iraq?? What else were/are they talking about?
I had thought Maliki went there to try and stop Iranian intrusion, now it sounds like he is parterning up.
I am a bit nervous.
Re: gregorystephens
Not to stray too far off topic, but the previous Clinton administration seemed to be filled with little people – Stephanopoulos, Albright, Rubin, Reich, and more, I’m sure. Probably has something to do with the inferiority complex of the person doing the hiring.
I check each Iraq post, hoping to hear some new update on the search for those kidnapped, particularly our soldiers, Pvt Fouty and Spec Jimenez, as well as the missing Brits that were kidnapped from a ministry building a couple months ago.
Sadly, we won’t hear anything more about any of these people from the MSM, unless they are found dead or alive. Pretty much like the Korean Christians held by the talibs. They sold a few papers and pulled in some ratings. Now forgotten by the media, they apparently are no longer worthy of headlines.
I thought Malliki needed to go a looong time ago. This just reinforces my opinion.
And some only appeared short because they were kneeling…
That’s the cover story.
Iran is in default to its loan shark (Russia) as it is on power plant related techno and materiele.
Methinks Maliki is checking up on Ahmedinejad’s boy Mookie al-Sadr. What will happen with the walkout clique after the summer “recess” in Baghdad is over?
Re: AlohaGuy
Ouch! I hoped to forget about that image.
I add:
And some only appeared short because of their intellect…
So they aren’t flirting with each other?
Didn’t we use to express disapproval of Saddam for killing Shiite insurgents?
How ironic that we now relish it when our boys are killing Shiite insurgents. THE SURGE IS WORKING.
15# The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend. We are not fighting by our rules. If you want to try and apply a western morality to the middle east good luck.
Very disturbing!!
So Taylork, males holding hands is just a normal thing in the middle east eh? Well, besides the obvious weirdness of THAT fact, does it not concern you at all that these 2 PARTICULAR males are cozy with each other? Come on! Unless you can say that 2 males can loathe each other and still seem to be in love, I’d say a big UH OH! to this pic.
This is what we get for not implementing our Constitution in Iraq that would have had provisions separation of Church and State. Instead, Paul Bremmer allowed them to have a Islamic Constitution.
Islam will eventually trump all freedom in Iraq and they will get Mullahs just like in Iran.
As Marvin Gaye would sing,
“What’s Going ON?”.
As we did in Japan at the end of WWII. The Japanese and their shintoism was every bit as fanatical as is islamism is today.
Yet in Japan (after we totally destroyed their will to keep fighting) we mandated that no link to religion could be in the constitution. 60 years later? great ally, strong democratic/capitalist society.
In Iraq and Afghanistan we allowed sharia based constitutions, and what do we have? religion based conflict in both governments, and imams having veto power over the elected officials. In short, non-functioning government.
It would be ironic if he pulls of a truce.