Bush Says Iraqis 'Will Deal With' Rebel Cleric Sadr

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040505/ts_nm/iraq_bush_sadr_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) said on Wednesday Iraqis "will deal with" rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr despite previous pledges by U.S. forces to kill or capture him.

"I think he ought to be dealt with by the Iraqi citizens, who are getting tired of him occupying the holiest of holy sites," Bush said in an interview with Dubai-based Al Arabiya television. "The Iraqis will deal with Mr. Sadr."

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[LisaM]

1. First of all, I detest his threats

but it's almost worse how he never follows through with them.

[Nashyra]

3. Another "kill him" to sound good

and then another flip-flop no we won't kill him. Great leader inflame them, let them go after our soldiers and then come and say well I didn't mean it after all.

[trumad]

2. Cut and Run Baby! Cut and Run.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Lets look at the bright side here. He didn't say "Bring em on!" again n/t

[leftchick]

6. One thing he said was almost as bad....

said with smirkon his face: "The Iraqi people have got to understand that the Americans won't be leaving Iraq"!

[madrchsod]

5. so the christian god`s faux son

decides to tell the islam what to do.."i`m the son of god, iraqi people throw out your devil".. bush is truly delusional

[ps1074]

7. bwwwaaahahaha

... getting tired of him occupying the holiest of holy sites.

Did the chimp really said that?

[Ilsa]

8. So where was this voice of "wisdom" several months ago?

Who is Shrub listening to now? This doesn't sound like a neocon talking to him, IMO. I guess Dimson has to learn his lessons the hard way.

[htuttle]

9. BUSH: "Will no one rid me of this troublesome Priest?"

Not only does Bush believe he knows what The American People™ think, but apparently he knows what Iraqis think too -- at least the one he's spoken with, Ahmed Chalabi.

Speaking of The Fatman, is anyone keeping an eye on his militia?

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Another defeat for Ameiican in the eyes of

the radicals on the other side... GOOD FOR BUSH, make the
threats and then back away... he is, I swear, the worst
President in the History of this country

[NJmaverick]

11. FLIP

FLOP

[Az_lefty]

12. "deal with him"???

you stupid shit. After the photos from the prison, Sadr will have more backing than he knows what to do with.

[paulk]

13. He's right

The solution to the Al-Sadr problem will come from the Iraqi community, not the Americans.

Sadr's is not a populist uprising; his followers are nothing but a group of thugs and fanatics - and at some point the Shi'ite leadership will force him out of Najef and Karbela and back to Sadr City.

[Cocoa]

14. so what other resistance is different?

It seems like you could say this about anyone in Iraq, in which case why don't
we just leave?

[paulk]

16. Because we destroyed Iraq's ability to defend itself

against the Al-Sadr's of this world - at least in a military sense. The pressure being applied to Al-Sadr by the Shi'ite leadership is religious, not military. Until Iraq has the ability to defend itself there will be a need for troops - hopefully under the aegis of the UN.

[NNN0LHI]

15. I am not so sure about that

Being the one who stood up against America and won probably carries great weight in Iraq right now. He may be the next leader of Iraq if he can stay alive long enough. I don't know how Junior will be able to spin that in to a good thing with his base. I bet this guy is smart enough to acquire some real WMDs (nukes) ASAP too, so he can protect the oil Iraq possess from being stolen. Iran may help him out here I think.

Don

[paulk]

18. I doubt Iran would help out Sadr

The Iranian government refused to take him as an exile just recently. There are factions in Iran that support Sadr, but it's important to realize that Sadr is, above all, a nationalist.

Perhaps I should amend that... Sadr is a Shi'ite nationalist, and there is no way the Sunni or the Kurds would accept the radical fundamental Shia theocracy his leadership would bring.

[NickB79]

22. If Sadr can get the backing of the Shi'ite population

Then it doesn't matter what the Sunnis or Kurds think. The Shi'ite's are the majority of the Iraqi population, outnumbering the Sunnis and Kurds combined. In a civil war, I doubt the Shiites would have much trouble defeating them. I also doubt that Iran would sit idly by while a civil war raged right next door.

Even if Sadr doesn't get the majority Shi'ite backing, that leaves it open for Al-Sistani to take for himself. His rule, while not as radical as Al-Sadr's would be, will still be a fundamental Shia theocracy. And Sistani DOES have significant support from the Iranians.

[paulk]

24. I doubt that the Shi'ites would easily win a military confrontation

Most of the trained officers from Hussein's army were Sunni, and the Kurds have been autonomous for a while now. They're organized. Superior numbers don't always mean that much on the battlefield.

I also question the automatic assumption that Iran would involve itself in an Iraqi civil war. Iran may share the same religion as southern Iraq, but they are culturally and ethnically quite different. The Iranian's are Persian; the Iraqi's Arab - and don't forget they fought a pretty major war not too long ago.

At this point, Al-Sistani is probably the best case scenario for Iraq,IMHO.
He is not necessarily in favor of a theocracy.

from www.chiesa

"But Sistani was not merely a great entrepreneur of formation. He supported – and supports to this day – a precise current of thought, the same one held by his mentor Khoei and his predecessors throughout the last two centuries: a current of the “quietist” kind, according to which the instructor teaches theology, law, and morality, and asks that the principles of Islam be respected in public life, but neither demands political power for himself nor presumes to exercise control over it.


This current of thought has always been dominant in Najaf. The Iranian ayatollah Khomeini, who lived in this city from 1965 to 1978 and supported the opposite thesis, was completely isolated.

The thesis of Khomeini, which he embodied in 1979 with his theocratic revolution in Iran, was that “only a good society can create good believers.” And he granted to the clerics the political power necessary to establish the perfect society.

Khoei and Sistani, on the contrary, held that “only good citizens can create a good society.” And they rejected any idea of theocracy. The Shiite doctrine taught at Najaf during the last two centuries has always distinguished the political from the religious realm. If there have been transgressors of the tradition, they are Khomeini and his followers in Iran."

This article also questions how strong support for Sistani would be from Iran, since his fundamental beliefs about the role of religion in government differ from those of Khomenei.

[ze_dscherman]

17. Holier than holy

He does not seem to realize that it's the U.S. that's occupying the holy sites. And I'm pretty sure the Shi'ites are already tired of that.

"I think he ought to be dealt with by the Iraqi citizens, who are getting tired of him occupying the holiest of holy sites," Bush said in an interview with Dubai-based Al Arabiya television. "The Iraqis will deal with Mr. Sadr."

[dbt]

19. What if the Iraqis deal with us?

My Viet Vu gets worse by the hour.

:freak:
dbt

[markus]

20. Hey! Let's rehire the Republican Guards and have them off him!

What a great idea George. Let us know how it goes in Fallujah first. Oh, and tell the guys digging the mass graves *not* to bring their camera's with them and ham it up in front of the corpses, ok?

[mulethree]

21. Free societies do not allow thugs

"Militias are people who are willing to kill, intimidate and try to take matters into their own hands, which is not the way democracy functions. Free societies do not allow thugs to roam streets and hold people hostage to their whims," he added.

Unless they are paid Republican Brooks Bros. thugs trying to stop a vote recount.

[0007]

23. 'We'll smoke 'em out, they can run but they can hide, We'll get 'em

A year later....ben Laden is of no concern to us".... ok you Iraqis turn in your weapons, two days later.....this is junk and not weapons, we give you till tomorrow and if you don't we'll come and get you and arrest you and kill your leader Moqtada al-Sadr......later, tomorrow we're turning the city of Fullujah over to Saddam Hussein's old General (that should scare 'em, 'eh) and we'll back up 100 ft.......later, the Iraqis are now gonna deal with that outlaw thug Moqtada al-Sadr, cuz they know their holy city is being trashed by this nobody and they'll know how to treat this thug and murderer.

Conclusion;

No bin Laden

No weapons turned in by Iraqis

No Fulllujah or Nafaj (sp)

No Moqtada al-Sadr

We still have junior who wants another 25B and more dead troops