GREAT UPI STORY

Eye on Iraq: The worst mistake
Published: April 8, 2007 at 6:50 PM
By MARTIN SIEFF
UPI Senior News Analyst

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., just back from his fifth visit to Iraq during the current conflict, expressed this wisdom in an op-ed in the Washington Post Sunday in which he claimed that Sadr's supporters 'are not contesting American forces."

Unfortunately for McCain, the very same edition of the Post in which his column appeared also contained a news article entitled "U.S. Fights Iraqi Militia in South."

The article made clear that Mahdi Army forces in Diwaniyah, whether on their own initiative or, as appears much more likely, on Sadr's express instructions, are indeed contesting control of the town with the U.S. and Iraqi army troops trying to regain it.

Pentagon analysts remain disproportionately neo-conservative, with many of the most influential ones recruited during the glory days of Deputy defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary for Policy Douglas Feith. Such people usually lacked any Arabic language skills or any first hand experience of the Arab Middle East at all. And they have consistently been behind the curve in recognizing the rise of the sectarian militias across Iraq, especially the Shiite ones. They have also consistently underestimated the depth of the passionate loyalties and strong networks these groups have been able to build.