The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went.  Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw Death standing in the crowd and he came up to Death and said, “Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?” 

 “That was not a threatening gesture”, Death said, “It was only a start of surprise.  I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.” {As retold by W. Somerset Maugham – 1933)

The Interim Iraqi Government is negotiating a deal with Al Sadr in Sadr City and with the Mujahidin Shura in Fallujah. According to the terms of the supposed agreements Al Sadr’s Mehdi Army will lay down its arms and hostilities will cease in Baghdad while the Fallujah based insurgents will oust the foreign fighters and turn the city over to the Iraqi National Guard. News sources are reporting that the joint US – ING offensive in Samarra was the turning point in convincing the rebels to come to the negotiating table. While the talks are going on the US will halt its air campaign against targets in Fallujah and reduce patrols in Baghdad. The announcement of the Baghdad deal by Al Sadr’s deputy was drowned out by a rocket attack on the Sheraton Hotel just across the Tigris River from Baghdad’s Green Zone.

It is October, just over three weeks until the US elections. There have been no casualty reports from the US urban warfare operations in Samarra. American military sources have reported 100 to 200 insurgents were killed and another 88 captured. Doctors in Samarra reported that the body count included many women and children. On the first day of the operation news sources were reporting one US soldier had been killed but the Pentagon has not confirmed that. One newsman embedded with the 1/14 Infantry reported that the fighting was fierce and the troops on the ground were frustrated because the enemy had not stood and fought but had simply slipped away while US armor drove to the city’s center.

It sounds like the news from Fallujah in April. It sounds like the news from Najaf in August. At the end of the April siege of Fallujah we called off the Marines and turned the city over to the Fallujah Brigade who handed Fallujah over to the rebels. At the end of the August siege of Najaf we turned away and the Mehdi Army piled its arms up in donkey carts and withdrew to Sadr City turning Najaf over to al-Sistani, the Irani born Mullah.

We are told that there are 2000 members of the Iraqi National Guard and Police in Samarra. We are told that there are 3000 American soldiers there to back them up. We are told that 1,208 coalition soldiers have kept their appointments with Death in a war to disarm Saddam of the arms he did not have. It is enough!