NYT: Shiite Cleric Increases His Power in Iraq (Moktada al-Sadr)

[leftchick]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/international/middleeast/27sadr.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 26 - Men loyal to Moktada al-Sadr piled out of their cars at a plantation near Baghdad on a recent morning, bristling with Kalashnikov rifles and eager to exact vengeance on the Sunni Arab fighters who had butchered one of their Shiite militia brothers.

When the smoke cleared after the fight, at least 21 bodies lay scattered among the weeds, making it the deadliest militia battle in months. The black-clad Shiites swaggered away, boasting about the carnage.

Even as that battle raged on Oct. 27, Mr. Sadr's aides in Baghdad were quietly closing a deal that would signal his official debut as a kingmaker in Iraqi politics, placing his handpicked candidates on the same slate - and on equal footing - with the Shiite governing parties in the December parliamentary elections. The country's rulers had come courting him, and he had forced them to meet his terms.

<snip>

Members of the Mahdi Army have also joined the police in large numbers, while retaining their loyalty to Mr. Sadr. Squad cars in Baghdad and southern cities cruise openly with pictures of Mr. Sadr taped to the windows. On Nov. 17, the American Embassy demanded that the Iraqi government prohibit private armies from controlling the Iraqi security forces, after American soldiers had found 169 malnourished prisoners, some of them tortured, in a Baghdad police prison reportedly under the command of a Shiite militia.

...so we are now training the folks the US was fighting last year? Can we bring the troops home now??

[buddysmellgood]

1. No. Not until we restart their nuclear program and hook them up with Iran.

[acmavm]

2. You watch, al Sadr is going to be real bad ju-ju. Remember the reign

of Khomeni in Iran? Well don't look now but we just may be in for a really really ugly repeat in Iraq.

[leftchick]

3. I remember and

"who could have predicted"... :(

[Cocoa]

4. and we're looking at a repeat in Iran as well

the Islamic revolution took a big step forward in both Iran and Iraq since Bush launched his stupid war.

[Disturbed]

5. This is all according to the Neocon Plan of ...

spreading Freedom. In the Bush Regime's realm of the Twighlight Zone democracy has arrived in Iraq.


"The terrorists want to control the oil. Our way of life will be at risk". George W. Bush (Nov. 2005)

[meow2u3]

14. Yet another half-truth from Bushco

"The terrorists want to control the oil. Our way of life will be at risk". George W. Bush (Nov. 2005)

Translation: We've met the terrorists and they are us.

[daleo]

8. Jordan looks kind of unstable now, too.

Bush's version of the domino theory is working out nicely.

[Vogon_Glory]

6. al-Sadr's Thugs Were The Guys Who Killed Young Sheehan

Let's remember that al Sadr's thugs were the same guys who killed Cindy Sheehan's son. al Sadr is a thug and the war is Buckaroo Bush's f*ckup.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. NONE of this would have been possible with Saddam in power

.
.
.

And Iraq would not have been (and never was) a haven for terrorists

Questions the Murikkan intelligence of this invasion/occupation now don't it?

This is just not a massacre and a plundering of another sovereign nation and it's resources,

It has created a whole new breeding ground for those who hate the "West"

It took over a million soldiers to win WW2

WW2 was about defending other nations

VietNam was "just" a massacre

This is much worse

Think about it

(sigh)

[Charles19]

9. Why is everybody here against Al Sadr?

He is an Iraqi nationalist who wants to help poor people?

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Muqtada_al-Sadr

[bemildred]

10. I'm not. So it's not everybody.

This is an interesting story if you ignore the reflex al Sadr bashing. I have not seen much about al Sadr for a while, and this indicates indirectly how he is doing. It actually seems a cause for hope to me, in terms of avoiding or minimizing a civil war and minimizing Iranian influence.

[leftchick]

11. I am not against him

If the Iraqis want him in charge that is their prerogative. I am merely pointing out the Irony of fighting against his followers then hiring and training them. It is a fruitless mission the USA is on and way past time to bring home the troops.

[Tin Man]

12. My irony meter just exploded....

So now we have Moktada Al-Sadr, the Islamic fundamentalist and firebrand cleric once sought by Coalition Forces for the murder of a rival imam, poised to become the "godfather" of the new Iraq. The old expression "be careful what you wish for" certainly applies here - W's hope for a "democratic Middle East" is coming true, but with sinister irony.

Time for a little history review. From a US perspective, Moktada Al-Sadr was/is most infamously remembered as the spiritual leader of the Mahdi Army and the fomentor of the Shia Rebellion that raged from April to August 2004 to the south of Bagdad. Remember the bloody fighting against US forces in Sadar City, Karbala, and the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf? Following the crushing defeat of the Mahdi Army in Najaf, Al-Sadr made a backroom deal with the Iraq Provisional Authority - in exchange for dropping the arrest warrant against him, the Mahdi Army would cease armed resistance against Coalition forces.

Now, after laying low for a while, Al-Sadr has reemerged from the ashes like a Firebird, to become the most powerful political leader in the new Iraq. Yep, this "democratic Iraq thing" sure is working-out grand... soon, Iraqis will be as free as their Iranian neighbors!!!

[cantstandbush]

13. US soldiers fought and died to replace one evil with a greater evil.

Bring the troops home now!!!