The King Midas Syndrome

I have been reading a fair amount on the Basra confrontation and had a confrontation about it with a friend.

Apparently, the left believes Sadr to be King Midas – everything he touches turns to gold, while our forces, our commanders, our allies make the three stooges look competent.

However, I am not going to stop there. Many on my side of the ideological divide attempt to pain the opposite picture.

Truth be told, the Basra fight known as Knight's Assault was not so decisive for either Sadr, Maliki's government, our or cause. Sadr may have lost 1,000 fighters and be low on ammo but an Iraqi Army brigade was destroyed, shattered. Sadr may have screamed uncle but there are reports (I am not quite certain as to the accuracy or veracity of the reports) an Iraqi delegation went to Iran to "talk".

As we speak operations against "criminal gangs" continue and we all know those criminal gangs are Sadrites. Of course, the Sadrites do not freely let themselves be taken out.

I have brought this up before and do so again. Hitler's army in December of 1944 smashed a number of American regiments making the Iraqi Army's losses seem small. Did we withdraw from Europe after that?