Sadr Offensive Shows Failure of Petraeus Strategy

This title is from a piece on IPSNews by Gareth Porter, an historian and national security policy analyst. His opening statement is this:

WASHINGTON, Mar 26 (IPS) - The escalation of fighting between Mahdi Army militiamen and their Shiite rivals, which could mark the end of Moqtada al-Sadr's self-imposed ceasefire, also exposes Gen. David Petraeus's strategy for controlling Sadr's forces as a failure.Petraeus reacted immediately to Sunday's rocket attacks on the Green Zone by blaming them on Iran. He told the BBC the rockets were "Iranian provided, Iranian-made rockets", and that they were launched by groups that were funded and trained by the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Petraeus said this was "in complete violation of promises made by President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and other most senior Iranian leaders to their Iraqi counterparts".

Blaming it on Iran. I hate to say that I told you, but I did. Petraeus, like Colin Powell before him, is a patsy, a fall-guy for Cheney who wants to bomb Iran more than John McCain. I'm thinking of that full-page ad titled, 'Don't Betray Us, Gen. Petraeus,' the one that got all of the right-wing talking heads undies all in a knot.

Porter adds this: "Petraeus statement was clearly intended to divert attention from a development that threatens one of the two main pillars of the administration's claim of progress in Iraq -- the willingness of Sadr to restrain the Mahdi Army, even in the face of systematic raids on its leadership by the U.S. military and its Iraqi allies." When he, Bush, Cheney, and McCain all tout, "The surge is working!" I harken back to the statements that got us into this war like Weapons of Mass Destruction and Uranium form Africa.

How many more times can the American electorate be fooled by this bunch of con-aritsts? Easily if past experience is an indication. The rest of this article is scholarly in its detail and damning to both Petraeus and the Bush/Cheney War.