I know that the Bush administration has been careful not to call the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq an “occupation.”  Notwithstanding politics, the question should be asked, “exactly who was it that conquered the Iraqi armies?”

The AP is reporting:

Iraq’s prime minister sharply criticized a U.S.-Iraqi attack Monday on a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad, breaking with his American partners on security tactics as the United States launches a major operation to secure the capital.

More than 30 people were killed or found dead Monday, including 10 paramilitary commandos slain when a suicide driver detonated a truck at the regional headquarters of the Shiite-led Interior Ministry police in a mostly Sunni city north of Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s criticism followed a pre-dawn air and ground attack on an area of Sadr City, stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

Police said three people, including a woman and a child, were killed in the raid, which the U.S. command said was aimed at “individuals involved in punishment and torture cell activities.”

[ … ]

“Reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way,” al-Maliki said in a statement on government television. “This operation used weapons that are unreasonable to detain someone — like using planes.”

He apologized to the Iraqi people for the operation and said “this won’t happen again.”

I have been vocal in my call for the arrest or killing of al-Sadr and his henchmen, as well as very aggressive offensives against all enemy in Iraq, whether Shia killing squads or leftover al Qaida.  This is war, and if we do not have the stomach left to fight it as such, then we should bring our boys home.

Now, the PM of Iraq is telling the press and the Shia killing squads that our warring against the enemy “won’t happen again.”  Words cannot express my utter disgust at the U.S. military brass if we cower to this kind of pomp and bloated self-aggrandizement.

The notion that anyone in Iraq should inform the U.S. of boundaries and stipulations in the war on terrorism boggles the mind.  Only in an atmosphere where this sort of arrogance has been allowed to flourish would this even be thinkable.

Who has given the Iraqi PM the impression that he can set our boudaries?

We will be watching closely to see if the U.S. cowers to little bullies.  We should quit trying to be loved and simply wage war.