Iraqi government suggests arming citizens

Shiite and Sunni politicians are calling on Iraqi civilians to take up arms to defend themselves. I'm a little confused about this article. I thought every adult male in Iraq had at least one weapon. I also thought that the coalition forces and Iraqi military and police, had routinely been taking weapons out of homes. So this call by both Shiite and Sunni politicians to arm the masses is strange. It sounds desperate at first, but after consideration it's the obvious answer. We in America believe in the rights of citizens to own and carry weapons, to protect ourselves. How much more important it seems that Iraqi citizens should protect themselves.

The calls to arm citizens reflect growing frustration with the inability of Iraqi security forces to prevent extremist attacks. [snip]

CBS News has learned that on July 15, a group of senior politicians plan to ask for a no-confidence vote in the Iraqi parliament as the first step to bringing down the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. [snip]

"I can tell you one thing that after Maliki, there is going to be the hurricane in Iraq," Mouwaffak al-Rubaie told CNN's "Late Edition." "This is an extremely important point to make across and to the Western audience and to the Arab audience as well as the larger Muslim audience." (CBS)

There are reports that say Moqtada al-Sadr has gone to Iran (again?). That's not what I'm hearing. More on that in another post. More at The Fourth Rail via Instapundit and Murdoc Online who says "that the "surge" is, in fact, the least important part of the "new strategy".

Going on the offensive at previous troop levels would have made a larger impact than surging additional troops to continue to sit in the FOBs and man a few checkpoints when the Iraqi government let us. So the tactics are more important that the troop levels, though more troops obviously increases the number of things you can do and your effectiveness when doing them.

I think Murdoc Online makes a very good point. There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, there are not as many ways to leave Iraq. The latest is "declare victory and come home." This isn't new, it was suggested each year since the war started, in 2006 here.

Democratic Senator Jon Tester has suggested that we have accomplished the mission and we should 'declare victory and bring the troops home.' He suggests that (1) Saddam is gone; (2) There were no weapons of mass destruction; and (3) The Iraqis have a democratically elected government.

Curtis Bowman points out an article by Terence Samuel

As Mr. Samuel points out, such a strategy might work better for Democrats than to argue that we should leave Iraq because we've lost the war.

One thing is for sure, Republicans need to find a way to win this war and get home before the 2008 elections.

Other reading:
Come Home, from First Draft (featured TypePad blog
Shadowscope, OTA
Trackposted to Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson's Website, Committees of Correspondence, Mark My Words, third world county, DragonLady's World, Shadowscope, Pirate's Cove, Webloggin, The Amboy Times, and High Desert Wanderer, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Comments

[michael]

Give guns to Arabs.
There's the key to world peace, for sure...

[bernie]

It would be fun to read headlines that say Gun Ownership makes one safe in one's home. I can't wait.

[David M]

Trackbacked by The Thunder Run - Web Reconnaissance for 07/09/2007
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.