Biden: Basra conflict may not be ‘defining moment’

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden (D-Del.), poised to start another round of hearings on Iraq, voiced skepticism Tuesday of President Bush’s claim that last week’s fighting between Shiite militias and Iraqi government forces was “a defining moment.”

{mosads}Biden, in a conference call with reporters, was not ready to judge the effects of the conflict, which took place mostly in the southern city of Basra. Biden’s committee will hear testimony next Tuesday from Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker about the surge and the latest in Iraq.

“The president said this was a defining moment,” Biden said. “Some were saying this was a victory for Iraq. I need more info.”

In Basra, Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his forces to lay down their arms and offered truce conditions on Monday, a week after militias began fighting with Iraqi forces under the direction of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Biden said the situation was “a little bit” like the 2006 conflict between Israeli and Hezbollah forces near the Israel-Lebanon border.

“Israelis used forces they had, Hezbollah survived, and [Hezbollah] grew in strength,” he said.
Biden then added, “[Basra] looks to me like, at least on the surface, Sadr may have come out a winner here. He lives to fight another day.”