Sons of Yorktown

The British-trained Iraqi Army's attempt to retake Basra from militiamen was an "unmitigated disaster at every level", British commanders have disclosed. Senior sources have said that the mission was undermined by incompetent officers and untrained troops who were sent into battle with inadequate supplies of food, water and ammunition. They said the failure had delayed the British withdrawal by "many months". Their comments came as the Iraqi army, this time directly supported by American and British forces, began a second operation in Basra in an attempt to find insurgent weapons caches.

Right-wing navel-gazing is always funnier when somebody else’s wingnuts are doing it, Mr. Bones. Imagine a parallel universe in which Marvin the ARVN (the Iraq Organisation) had indeed been produced by Airstrip One single-handed. After that, sir, you may imagine this universe’s Dr. Gen. Petraeus of Princeton and West Point reactin’ to the Torygraph’s latest scoop , for of course it was by trainin’ Marvin that the great white hope of Grant’s Party got launched on its present trajectory in the first place.

As ever, plucky little Marvin is a swell guy personally, once you get to train him. The cock-up is not Marvin’s fault. The real trouble was located much higher up the Great Chain:

Gen Mohan Furayji, the Iraqi commander who was in charge of troops during the operation, was described by a senior British staff officer as a 'dangerous lunatic' who 'ignored' advice. The British officer, who is based at the coalition headquarters at Basra Air Station, said that the decision to allow Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq, to run the operation had been a "disaster which felt as though an amateur was in charge".

That’s a good beginning, but incompetence and dereliction are not tracked to the very end of the chain. Colonel Carp (let’s call him) did not reveal to the Torygraphists the name of the person who disastrously decided to let poor M. al-Málikí run the show [1] as if he was President of the Council of Ministers of a sovereign/independent/constitutional/democratic neorégime almost as good as South Vietnam. More to the violence-professional point, as if N. (J.) K. al-Málikí was Hannibal come again.

But not so fast: do the Torygraphists and their Carp know what they are going on about? Look at this bit, Mr. Bones:

More than 15,000 Iraqi troops were ordered to seize control of the city last month following an uprising by the Mehdi Army , the powerful militia group which is largely trained and financed by Iran. President George W Bush described the battle for Basra as a 'defining moment' for Iraq, while British officials at the time praised the professionalism of the Iraqi army. However, the operation ended in a stalemate, with the Iraqi government agreeing to a ceasefire.

Now I was not there personally either to tell you precisely what did not happen, Mr. Bones, but the Rancho Crawford cowpokers dispensed with the customary Reichstag fire this time, no? Didn’t they -- quite remarkably, really -- omit to solicit belief that there had been any "uprising by the Mehdi Army"? When Little Brother was settin’ forth a preliminary rationale for the latest twist in the Big Party’s aggression policy -- at that press event with the Australian PM, 28 March 2008 -- did he not in effect repose himself upon St. Max Weber and the need for poor M. al-Málikí to look more like a violence monopolist in places like Basra? I speak of chunks of the former Iraq of which NKM had never been weberianly in control in the first place that anybody should uprise against him. [2]

Carp's rhetoric does possess a certain charm for anybody who basically sides with the Rev. Señorito rather than with the paleface invasionites from Mars and Airstrip One:

"There were literally thousands of troops arriving in Basra from all over Iraq. But they had no idea why they were there or what they were supposed to do. It was madness and to cap it all they had insufficient supplies of food, water and ammunition. One of the newly formed brigades was ordered into battle and suffered around 1,200 desertions within the first couple of hours - it was painful to watch. ((Was Carp ‘literally’ present to watch and ache, then?)) They had to be pulled out because they were a busted flush. The Iraqi police were next to useless. There were supposed to be 1,300 ready to deploy into the city, but they refused to do so. The situation deteriorated to the extent where we [the British Army] were forced to stage a major resupply operation in order to stave off disaster. "The net effect of all of this is that the British Army will be forced to remain here for many months longer."

There are a number of oddities in that passage, not the least being how the alleged net effect was computed. (Why shouldn’t the Redcoat Folk scuttle immediately?) But that type of calculation is outside Colonel Carp’s remit, and outside the scope of his eye’s witness. When he claims that he himself supplied Marvin the ARVN with bullets and bread and water, we may take his word, but beyond that, I dunno. Even as regards the logistics of the Second Muqtadan War, I am puzzled why poor M. al-Málikí, who does not mind calling in AEI-GOP-DOD air strikes against his nominal subjects, could not simply have let leaderless Marvin live off the country, or rather, off the city. Basra was, after all, in enemy hands and that was not a recent development. Ammunition might be tricky to loot, though Peaceful Freedumbia does often seem the Utopia of the NRA, but surely food and water might have been requisitioned.

There is no call for thee and me to play Alexander and Gustavus Adolphus with poor M. al-Málikí and criticise Col. Carp in detail about violence-pro questions. After all, we still do not know (1) who started the Second Muqtadan War, (2) who won it, and (3) what happened in between. There is no reason to suppose the Torygraphists are better informed.

Meanwhile over in a parallel universe where things work out better for invasionism,

The Sunday Telegraph has also learnt that British commanders had devised a plan for Gen Mohan. The plan came with the caveat that it should not be started until mid-July because Iraqi troops were not ready. But the officer said that the Iraqi general had ignored the advice. He said that a British liaison team was sent to the Iraqi army headquarters during the battle. "They were greeted by a group of Iraqi generals sitting around a large desk, shouting into their mobiles without a map in sight. Chaos ruled."

If that quotation also comes from Colonel Carp, we may flush his "uprising by the Mehdi Army" straight down the toilet. His crystal ball will have been preprogrammed for that sighting to happen at the beginning of July, obviously.

Most mysterious of all is why the Torygraph should want to print such stuff. If there had been an attempt to blame it all on New Labour, one would know in a flash what is going on. But they don’t. God knows best. Happy days!

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[1] Could the misdecider have been D. Hannibal Petrolaeus himself? Not impossible, yet not likely: the Dr. General has emitted noises in public that suggest he would have preferred to leave Master Muqtadae and his juvenile delinquents alone if possible. As sheer guesswork, I can disclose that the Second Muqtadan War was poor M. al-Málikí's own idea that was never mentioned to his Big Management Party minders because he was aware they’d tell him to forget it. The Third Muqtadan War, which rages at the moment, will also not have been DHP’s idea -- which raises the interesting question of whose idea it is. Like "Zal" before him, Khalílzád Pasha, "David" has lost his lease on Little Brother’s brain. Either some person or persons unknown have acquired the lease, or the premises are bein’ left vacant -- that is to say, Little Brother reckons at this point that He does not require anythin’ fancier than "Stay the course!" to bridge the interval until J. Sidney McCain takes the helm. We shall see.


[2]

"John, any government that presumes to represent the majority of people must confront criminal elements or people who think they can live outside the law. And that's what's taking place in Basra and in other parts of Iraq. I would say this is a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq. There have been other defining moments up to now, but this is a defining moment, as well. The decision to move troops -- Iraqi troops into Basra talks about Prime Minister Maliki's leadership. And one of the early questions I had to the Prime Minister was would he be willing to confront criminal elements, whether they be Shia or Sunni? Would he, in representing people who want to live in peace, be willing to use force necessary to bring to justice those who take advantage of a vacuum, or those who murder the innocent? And his answer was, yes, sir, I will. And I said, well, you'll have our support if that's the case, if you believe in even-handed justice. And his decision to move into Basra shows even-handed justice, shows he's willing to go after those who believe they're outside the law."

Do you spot any uprising by the JAM in that dungheap, Mr. Bones? I sure can’t.