This Is What Real Political Progress Looks Like

Ever since Nouri Al-Maliki came to office, we’ve been told he represented only Shia interests, or perhaps even Iran’s.  We were told he needed Sadr.  We were told Iraq’s irreconcilable sectarian differences would inevitably plunge the country into civil war, sooner or later. 

 Instead, all three sects are coming together behind Maliki to oppose the militias, many supported and armed by Iran, that are responsible for most of the violence.

BAGHDAD – Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s faltering [sic] crackdown on Shiite militants has won the backing of Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties that fear both the powerful sectarian militias and the effects of failure on Iraq’s fragile government.

The emergence of a common cause could help bridge Iraq’s political rifts.

The head of the Kurdish self-ruled region, Massoud Barzani, has offered Kurdish troops to help fight anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia.

More significantly, Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi signed off on a statement by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and the Shiite vice president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, expressing support for the crackdown in the oil-rich southern city of Basra.

This has to be considered a watershed moment for Iraqi politics, as it’s the most significant bridge across the sectarian divide we’ve seen since the country was liberated from Saddam Hussein.  Sharing oil revenue and passing laws was promising, but to have all three sects come together on military action against a militia of one those sects is truly meaningful and augurs against a sectarian civil war.

And, ironically, they owe much of this newfound unity to Moqtada Al-Sadr and Iran.

 UPDATE:  The indispensable Bill Roggio has the definitive breakdown of the Basra operation. 

Eleven days after Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki launched Operation Knights’ Assault in Basrah, the picture of the fighting in the city has become clearer. Maliki launched the operation after giving limited notice to Multinational Forces Iraq, and an inexperienced Iraqi Army brigade from the newly formed 14th Division cracked doing the opening days of the fighting. Basrah Operational Command rushed in forces into Basrah, including Army and elite police units, to stabilize the fighting, and six days after the operation began, Muqtada al Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army to stand down in Basrah, Baghdad, and the South. 

Apparently, the reason there were so many desertions on the ISF side before the Sadrists retreated indoors is that the plan was rushed by Maliki and included a brigade of raw recruits just out of training:

 While the government of Iraq has been planning to conduct an operation to clear the militias from Basrah for some time, Maliki pushed up the time schedule for the operation by months, The New York Times reported on April 3. Maliki also failed to give proper advanced notice to the US military and almost no notice to the British forces in the south. 
…
The decision to rush the operation forced a newly formed brigade into the fight just one month after the unit graduated from basic training. While the brigade has not been named, it was likely the 52nd Brigade from the 14th Iraqi Army Division, the most inexperienced units in the Iraqi Army.

And this is interesting:

Pro-government protests were staged in Diwaniyah, Karbala, and Hillah just days after the Basrah operation began.

Bet you didn’t hear that on the news!