Give Sadr the Treatment, and today's other items

Give Sadr the Treatment: How to beat Iraq's Shiite extremists

What I'm trying to say here is that the military component we need at this particular stage should be different from the routine military operations that U.S. and Iraqi military had been conducting so far.

The new military component should be designed to create a friendly climate where politicians can strike deals and reach compromise without coercion from radical extremists.

And so if more boots are to be added on the ground then the mission will have to include freeing politicians and parties such as Nouri al-Maliki and Tariq al-Hashimi (of the Dawa and the Islamic party respectively) from the ropes that bind them to Muqtada al-Sadr and harmful elements in the Sunni political scene.

Right now is a good time, perhaps the best time we have, to launch this effort since there's already a large front forming from the parties that are willing to talk against the extremists' camp.

If the way forward requires maintaining the basic course of the political process and empowering (and cleaning) the current government and its head then the only way to do this is to relieve Mr. Maliki, his party and the rest of the Shia alliance from the dominance and influence of Sadr, and there are two ways to accomplish this: either persuade Mr. Maliki and his team and promise them great support and protection from Sadr's reach, or deal a lethal blow to Sadr and his militia in order to render him unable to inflict harm on Mr. Maliki and other members of the United Iraqi Alliance.

Now really, it shouldn't be that difficult to figure out that the first way isn't working out right, what's needed now is to take the decision to try the second way and deal with the biggest threat to stability in Iraq in the way we should.

Holidays in the news:
Via Bill, Kwanzaa -- Racist Holiday from Hell

John Kerry wasn't in a holiday mood ...

An exercise in arrogance: The Beeb's Channel 4 presumes to tell Christians what Christmas is about by having a Muslim woman deliver an "alternate" Christmas message. Here's the video:

The Hajj starts tomorrow. Will the Beeb's Channel 4 have a Christian woman give Muslims an "alternative" pilgrimage message?

Point - counterpoint on Indonesia:
Friendly Muslims vs. Here Dhimmi Dhimmi Dhimmi...

Books, and other items from Larwyn, Cinnammon and Maria
Austin Bay reviews Lawrence Wright's book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Alexandra and Dr. Sanity ponder Iran.

Via Larwyn, Books on my Amazon Wish List
and
Now, Murtha's Lobbyist Connections Come Into Question. Now isn't it precious, as the Church Lady would say, having a lobbying group's acronym spell P-A-I-D?

Via Cinnammon, The Sandy Berger Experiment: Bush Official Destroyed 9/11 Documents

Via Maria, the US Navy Presidential Ceremonial Honor Guard Drill Team:


More blogging later.