Iraq: Military victory, political defeat

The movement of Moqtada Al-Sadr has fine-tuned its multifaceted military and political strategy to survive the most recent US-backed Iraqi military assault on its last stronghold in the southern city of Al-Amarah.

Avoiding direct confrontation, neutralising the rogue elements within the ranks of his Mahdi Army militia, adopting a rather pacifist discourse and forging a wider political alliance with different Iraqi opposition groups are some of Al-Sadr's smart tactical manoeuvres to repel the new "law imposing operation" in Al-Amarah, the oil-rich capital of Maysan province.

Followers of Al-Sadr vowed Monday that they won't resist a military crackdown in Amarah, 320km southeast of Baghdad, as long as government troops keep away from arbitrary arrest or committing other violations.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki has given "outlaws" and "criminals" in Al-Amarah until Wednesday to surrender their weapons and renounce violence or face harsh measures. The show of force in the southern city of nearly 450,000 people follows similar efforts in the Shia areas of Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City and the northern Sunni insurgent bastion of Mosul.

Iraqi troops tightened their grip on the peripheries of Al-Amarah Tuesday two days before the beginning of major operations in the impoverished city that is reputed to be a centre for smuggling arms from neighbouring Iran.

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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/902/re3.htm