The Surge, The Shiites, and Nation Building in Iraq.

• Author: DeAtkine, Norvell B.

www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373640

By Dr. Reidar Visser (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs)

Writing for the Jamestown Terrorism Monitor, a valuable source of succinct and reliable information on Middle Eastern political-military developments, Dr. Reidar Visser offers a much needed perspective on Iraq's Shi'a. He correctly observes that U. S. policymakers--and the American media--have for far too long regarded Muqtada Sadr as our principal Shi'a enemy--an orientation facilitated by his sinister appearance and harsh rhetoric. Visser also correctly describes the Saderists as critical of Iranian policies and identifies Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) as the political grouping closest to Iran. Having observed first hand that ISCI has a smoothly functioning public relations organization, I agree with Visser on that point as well.

From there Visser tends to wander and dilutes his main points with unsupported suppositions. Despite his claim that U.S. policy is doing Iran's dirty work, I find it difficult to discern America's Shi'a policy. The U.S. has focused on the Sunni and left the Shi'a to the British and a mish-mash of Italian, Ukrainian, Spanish, and other units. As British diplomats often acknowledge, southern Iraq's problems result directly from their forces' desire to avoid casualties by using traditional tribal buy-out policies, leaving the locals to sort things out for...