Al-Sadr Extends The Truce

by Steve Soto

It looks like President Obama will get the opportunity to draw down our force levels in Iraq and still make lemonade out of the lemons George W. Bush will dump on his desk. That is, unless CENTCOM wastes the opportunity Moqtada al-Sadr just gave them, and fails to engage him and other Iraqi leaders directly in discussions on how we can draw down and leave them with a country they can manage.

Powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr extended his Mehdi Army militia ceasefire by six months on Friday, a decision U.S. officials said would help foster reconciliation among Iraq's divided communities.

The renewal was welcomed by Iraq's government and the U.S. military, which both say the initial six-month truce helped to reduce attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops as well as tit-for-tat sectarian violence that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.

In a statement, the U.S. military said it was ready for dialogue with Sadr's movement, which opposes the American troop presence in Iraq. Sadr led his militia in two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004.

An incoming Democratic administration, working with a Democratic Congress with larger majorities in both houses, will seemingly now have the opportunity to end this disaster and let the Iraqis and not our oil companies dictate their own future.

And if the Democrats can wind it down and refocus our efforts towards regional political and economic improvements and away from American imperialism and disaster capitalism, the party will reap the benefits of making this only a $1.5 trillion war foreign policy disaster instead of the $2-3 trillion empire-killer it would be with John McBush (thanks Meteor Blades) running things.

Of course, we'll now have to figure out who should rebuild what we have blown to hell in that country, since it appears Bush-GOP gravy train capitalism cannot be counted upon to do the job.