Leila Fadel is McClatchy's doom and gloom Baghdad bureau chief. From time to time I have blogged about her focus on misery and chaos and American failure in Iraq.
A recent example is Fadel's 3-31-08 analysis after the fighting between the Iraqi Army and the Mahdi Army in Basra ended.
Fadel's predictable conclusion? Maliki lost!
As the dust in Basra has settled, a variety of analysts have concluded Maliki actually got the better of al-Sadr. See here and here. Blogger Mohammed Fadhil points out Maliki now has the support of a majority of Shia, along with the approval of the Sunni and Kurds in addition to the sympathy of a public tired of the violence of Sadr’s movement.
Fadel's defeatist conclusion was premature at best.
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