al Sadr: "No, no for Satan. No, no for America. No, no for the occupation. No, no for Israel."

[BurtWorm]

This is what NPACist-Bushism hath wrought in Iraq. Is this what they wanted? (I mean besides the oil.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070525/iraq


Fiery Anti-U.S. Cleric Reappears in Iraq

RAVI NESSMAN | AP | May 25, 2007 11:48 AM EST

BAGHDAD — Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months on Friday, delivering a fiery anti-American sermon to thousands of followers and demanding U.S. troops leave Iraq.

It was not immediately clear why he chose to return now to his base in the Shiite holy city of Najaf from Iran. His speech had new nationalist overtones, calling on Sunnis to join with him in the fight against the U.S. presence. He also criticized the government's inability to provide reliable services to its people.

Al-Sadr's reappearance, four months after he went underground at the start of the U.S.-led Baghdad security crackdown, came just hours before his Mahdi Army militia lost its top commander in the southern city of Basra in a gunbattle with British soldiers, Iraqi police said.

The 33-year-old al-Sadr is believed to be honing plans to consolidate political gains and foster ties with Iran _ and possibly trying to take advantage of the absence of a major rival, Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and went to Iran for treatment.

The U.S. military also announced Friday that six U.S. soldiers were killed in a series of attacks across Iraq in recent days. The deaths put May on pace to be one of the deadliest months for U.S. forces here in years.

Al-Sadr traveled in a long motorcade from Najaf to the adjacent holy city of Kufa on Friday morning to deliver his sermon before 6,000 worshippers.

"No, no for Satan. No, no for America. No, no for the occupation. No, no for Israel," he chanted in a call and response with the audience at the start of his speech.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Satan? Moi? Surely you jest." - Commander AWOL

"Do I look like the kind of Connecticut preppy cheerleader deserter who would belong to
an occult cabal of corrupt cronies?

"I mean, do I look like some kind of Evil Doer?"

- Commander AWOL, Skull & Boner Brigade of republicon Chickenhawks