More lies & more stupidity

This is a continuation of the previous post.
(It occurs to me I could recycle this post's title pretty much forever!)

The same article cited below (Rice says Arabs must shield Iraq from Iran's sway) goes on to note that

Rice said Iran must stop its "malign actions" in Iraq, where Washington says Tehran has stoked violence and was behind the latest fighting in the southern city of Basra.
[emphasis added]

This is simply a lie.

Iraq's Prime Minister Maliki decided - on this own time, at his own time - to assert central government authority in Basra, using Iraqi military forces to do so. The operation was a disaster, with Iraq government forces confronted by well-armed, well-disciplined native Iraqi forces loyal to Moqtada al Sadr.

Iran's involvement? Members of Maliki's government implored Iran to broker a cease-fire with Moqtada's Mahdi Army.... and Iran complied - helping bring an end to Maliki's disastrous Basra incursion.

Our policies seem to be deliberately designed to drive Moqtada towards Iran, and to strengthen Iran's influence within Iraq.

Have we ever suggested to Maliki that he engage in diplomacy with al Sadr? (al Sadr has made it perfectly clear he has no intention of dealing with U.S. occupation forces - but he seems honestly willing to play a political role in the Iraqi government, if Maliki would allow it.) As far as I can tell, Maliki simply fears al Sadr's political strength, and wants to keep his party from participating in provincial elections in the fall. I don't have the numbers handy, but I believe al Sadr's political following is considerable - a legitimate popular movement. The kind of thing that W ought welcome: grass-roots democracy!

What do we do instead? We invade al Sadr's Baghdad base in Sadr City, and condemn his militia - alone among all the militias in Iraq - as outlaw. (Recall: we've put Sunni militias in Anbar on our payroll, as "Awakening Councils"... and the Badr Brigade is the militia of Maliki's faction.)

Stop the madness!