Shiite leader heads into mainstream

[bemildred]

I want to ask CNN if he is still a "radical militant
anti-American firebrand", or not?

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Arguably Iraq's most popular Shiite group, followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have packed away their guns and now speak of "political resistance" rather than martyrdom in battle.

Once dismissed as an upstart, the portly al-Sadr has been transformed into a respectable political figure, commanding the loyalty of key lawmakers and several Cabinet ministers.

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Sadr City is a sprawling Baghdad neighborhood that's home to some 2.5 million Shiites and the largest bastion of support for al-Sadr. It was named for Muqtada's father, the late Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, who was killed in 1999.

In many ways today's "Sadrists" have changed since their heavily armed militia battled U.S. troops last fall, but their canny mix of politics, religious fervor and military capability make them the one group in postwar Iraq with the potential for rapid growth.

Corporate News Network

[NNN0LHI]

1. US to 'capture or kill' Muqtada al-Sadr

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4206FF30-F162-471A-A3DC-0FFA68953C08.htm

The US military has said it will capture or kill Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr.

"The mission of US forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr," Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of US ground forces in Iraq, told reporters in the United States in a video link from Baghdad on Monday.

US-led occupation authorities in Iraq have said an arrest warrant for al-Sadr was issued several months ago by an Iraqi judge in connection with the murder of a cleric in the city of Najaf last year.

Some Iraqi religious and tribal leaders have been trying to mediate a deal to end al-Sadr's uprising, possibly by getting the US-led occupation to agree not to arrest al-Sadr in return for him renouncing violence.

more

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7039F7AA-E3B5-44C6-906E-934378D91844.htm

The rehabilitation of Muqtada al-Sadr

Once wanted dead or alive by US-led occupation forces, Muqtada al-Sadr is refashioning himself to join the political process being installed by Washington. snip

"The mission of US forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr," said Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the US commander in Iraq on 12 April after the Mahdi Army took control of three southern mainly Shia cities and confronted foreign occupation troops.

Al-Sadr had at the time vowed to turn Iraq into another Vietnam for the US.

But in a move welcomed by Sanchez's deputy, al-Sadr's militia on Friday announced a unilateral ceasefire with US forces in the Baghdad district of Sadr City.

"Any time we are resolving differences peacefully rather than through use of arms, that's a success,” Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told Aljazeera.net.

more

[bemildred]

2. Would that be "mission not accomplished" then?

:thumbsup: