From: John Cuccia 

On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:23:44 -0600, John Cuccia  wrote:

>On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:51:49 -0500, "Mark"
 wrote:
>
>>Nope we can't, it's up to them, with our support in the transition from
>>totalitarian dictatorship to freedom -- that you maroons would have us cut
>>and run at this point in time speaks volumes.
>
>The majority of Iraqis are free.  Their freely elected democratic
>government supports the Shi'ite militias and death squads

This didn't get widespread press coverage, but it illustrates my point. 
"The raid drew immediate criticism from the Iraqi government.".  
*Immediate* criticism.

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/01/20/a2.int.war.0120.p1.php?section=nat
ion_world
Published: Saturday, January 20, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces swooped into a mosque complex in east
Baghdad on Friday and detained a top aide to radical anti-U.S. cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr, the latest in a series of operations aimed at eviscerating
the leadership of the Mahdi Army militia.

The raid drew immediate criticism from the Iraqi government, which
complained it had not been consulted. An aide to Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, who owes his job as Iraqi leader to al-Sadr's backing, said the
operation was not part of a coming joint U.S.-Iraq security drive. Under
the plan, to which President Bush has committed an additional 21,500 U.S.
troops, U.S. commanders have been promised a freer hand against Sunni
insurgents and Shiite militiamen.

''There was no coordination with the Iraqi political leadership and
this arrest was not part of the new security plan,'' Sadiq al-Rikabi, the
al-Maliki adviser, told Al-Arabiya television. ''Coordination with the
Iraqi political leadership is needed before conducting such operations that
draw popular reactions.''

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