Iraqis Taking The Lead Against Oppression

The Mahdi army's violence hasn't gone unnoticed. An interesting article from the BBC talks about the Mahdi Army receiving some backlash from the residents of Karbala:

"The Mehdi Army's grip on Karbala - home to some of Shia Islam's holiest shrines - was broken in August after it was blamed for violent clashes with police in which more than 50 people were killed.

Before that, such public accusations against the militia would have been unthinkable, our correspondent says."

I'm taking this as good news. The Mahdi army will of course be back and, despite al-Sadr's political gamesmanship, is widely regarded as one of the larger threats to Iraq's stability. An insurgency is all about winning the support of the populace by establishing legitimacy, and at least in Karbala, al-Sadr is losing it (if he ever had it) because of things like this:

"Many participants at the meeting made emotional statements giving details of relatives they said had been killed or tortured by the Mehdi Army."

If you'll recall, that's exactly the kind of behavior that got AQI routed in al-Anbar. Somehow I think that al-Sadr's adoption of AQI as an enemy is (surprise) nothing but opportunistic crapola based on the gamble that he may not have to fight them by the time the Mahdi stand-down is over.

As a province, Karbala was handed over to ISF a short time ago. It will undoubtedly be more vulnerable than it was before the handover from a kinetic standpoint, but it's also worth noting that in the absence of Mahdi murderers who are regrouping, the civilians are using the opportunity to regroup as well. And while dealing with local militias in a largely ad hoc fashion is risky, it would seem likely that a civilian militia fomenting as a result of backlash against al-Sadr's goons would be a good deal.

Elsewhere in the patchwork war, we see exactly that occurring in one of Baghdad's northern neighborhoods (via Memeorandum):

"BAGHDAD - Former Sunni insurgents asked the United States to stay away, and then ambushed members of Al Qaeda in Iraq, killing 18 in a battle that raged for hours north of Baghdad, an ex-insurgent leader and Iraqi police said yesterday.

The Islamic Army in Iraq sent advance word to Iraqi police requesting that US helicopters keep out of the area because its fighters had no uniforms and were indistinguishable from Al Qaeda, according to the police and a top Islamic Army leader known as Abu Ibrahim."

Risky, but not stupid. To paraphrase T.E. Lawrence, it's better to let them do it tolerably than have us do it well, because this would never happen after a victorious American firefight, of any duration:

"And at Baghdad's most revered Sunni shrine, the Abu Hanifa mosque, voices blasted from loudspeakers yesterday urging residents to turn against Qaeda: 'We are your sons, the sons of the awakening, and we want to end the operations of Al Qaeda.'"

While the words may ring hollow for many here, it was only a matter of months ago when anyone speaking those words would likely have been hunted down. The same goes for the citizens of Karbala and their rejection of the Mahdi army. From the look of it, Iraqis are beginning to recognize oppression when they see it; James Madison would be proud, and we should be on board as a nation willing to fight oppression alongside them.