Sadr orders militia to protect Iraqi Sunni mosques

[bemildred]

NAJAF, Iraq - Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr has ordered his Mehdi Army militia to protect Sunni mosques in majority Shiite areas in southern Iraq, an official from his office said on Thursday.

“Moqtada Sadr has ordered the Mehdi Army to protect Sunni mosques and religious places in Basra and in other regions” where his movement is influential, Saheb Al Amiri told AFP.

The move follows attacks against dozens of Sunni mosques nationwide after the bombing in Samarra on Wednesday of one of the holiest Shiite shrines.

The Mehdi Army militia was partly disarmed following clashes with US forces in 2004.

Khaleej Times

[4dsc]

1. Isn't this Iraqi government forces??

If I am not mistaken, aren't these militia's part of the Iraqi's governemnt forces too?? Show's how much power Sadr has accummulated though..

[wtmusic]

4. No

The Mehdi army is Sadr's militia.

[Teaser]

6. No...

The army of the Mahdi is almost entirely composed of poor slum youths. It's the Badr Corps that's been more or less incorporated into the dept. of the interior. Badr Corps is affiliated with SCIRI.

[wtmusic]

2. The "firebrand" cleric who is the most capable of bringing peace

to Iraq also wants the US out now.

How inconvenient.

[Teaser]

3. Posturing by Moqtada...

His men are also killing Sunni leaders, or so it has been reported. But he is a much smarter politician than people realize.

[wtmusic]

5. Have a link to what's been reported? nt

[Teaser]

8. somewhere...

read it yesterday...may have been in asia times...I'll look to see if I can find it...

[bemildred]

10. There is one I put up in Editorials.

It is more opinion than reportage, though there is some hearsay in it.

[bemildred]

11. Ah, no, here it is:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2124759&mesg_id=2126910

[wtmusic]

14. This is what they're calling "revenge"

"The number of dead is sufficient for us to prove that this incident was organised,” he said. “You should ask about the dirty hands who spilt all this blood."

“We need to know who the criminals are, who is behind them,” he said. “And we will punish them.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1763703,00.html

Everything else is hearsay and bullshit, likely planted by Western psyops.

Sadr doesn't want us in Iraq, so he's a "bad guy".

[bemildred]

15. I'm not defending it Sir, I generally like al Sadr.

I am well aware of his statements, and he has been consistent, so I don't consider he is taking an expedient position here. He is one of my candidates for target of the Shrine bombing, and it's telling the he hurried back from Lebanon, so I assume he was worried about it.

Otherwise, I assume all politicians lie, from time to time, and I would not put it past him.

[mom cat]

23. Actually, most of the Sunni deaths have been reported to be "death

squads" that sprung up afterNegroponte was there:
The "Salvadore Option"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6802629/site/newsweek
And this by Robert Fisk:
Secrets of the morgue: Baghdad's body count
Bodies of 1,100 civilians brought to mortuary in July
Pre-invasion, July figure was typically less than 200
Last Sunday alone, the mortuary received 36 bodies
Up to 20 per cent of the bodies are never identified
Many of the dead have been tortured or disfigured
By Robert Fisk
Published: 17 August 2005
The Baghdad morgue is a fearful place of heat and stench and mourning, the cries of relatives echoing down the narrow, foetid laneway behind the pale-yellow brick medical centre where the authorities keep their computerised records. So many corpses are being brought to the mortuary that human remains are stacked on top of each other. Unidentified bodies must be buried within days for lack of space - but the municipality is so overwhelmed by the number of killings that it can no longer provide the vehicles and personnel to take the remains to cemeteries.

July was the bloodiest month in Baghdad's modern history - in all, 1,100 bodies were brought to the city's mortuary; executed for the most part, eviscerated, stabbed, bludgeoned, tortured to death. The figure is secret.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article306436.ece

And this:
Crying Wolf: Media Disinformation and Death Squads in Occupied Iraq


by Max Fuller

November 10, 2005
GlobalResearch.ca


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Abstract


The phenomenon of death squads operating in Iraq has become generally accepted over recent months. However, in its treatment of the issue, the mainstream media has zealously followed a line of attributing extrajudicial killings to unaccountable Shia militias who have risen to prominence with the electoral victory of Ibramhim Jafaari’s Shia-led government in January. The following article examines both the way in which the information has been widely presented and whether that presentation has any actual basis in fact. Concluding that the attribution to Shia militias is unsustainable, the article considers who the intellectual authors of these crimes against humanity are and what purpose they serve in the context of the ongoing occupation of the country.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Shortly before dawn on 14 September 2005, just hours before a huge bomb exploded in Baghdad killing 88 labourers, around 50 men in army uniforms arrived at the village of Taji 16km north of Baghdad in military vehicles, bearing military identification. After searching the village, they seized 17 local men, described by one witness as vegetable sellers, ice sellers and taxi drivers. Handcuffed and blindfolded, the men were led from their homes before being shot in the head in the main square (Newsday, Al Jazeera, Juan Cole).



Such killings represent a pattern of violence as frightening as and perhaps more systematic than the steady wave of bombings targeting civilians in occupied Iraq. Whilst the pattern of death-squad-style executions is broadly recognised, it remains badly understood and, in its representation, deeply distorted.



The appearance of death squads was first highlighted in May this year, when over a 10-day period dozens of bodies were found casually disposed of in rubbish dumps and vacant areas around Baghdad. All of the victims had been handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head and many of them also showed signs of having been brutally tortured. On 5 May 15 bodies were discovered in an industrial area called Kasra-Wa-Atash and subsequently identified as belonging to a group of farmers seized from a Baghdad market. The bodies revealed such torture marks as broken skulls, burning, beatings and right eyeballs removed. Witnesses claimed the men had been arrested by members of the security forces (BBC, Guardian). Less than two weeks later, 15 more bodies were found at two sites (KUNA). According to the chairman of the Sunni Waqf court, Adnan Muhammad Salman, the victims were Sunnis who had been arrested at their homes or at mosques (ArabicNews.com).

More at:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=FUL20051110&articleId=1230

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Sistani is on the verge of ordering that too

From Juan Cole's excellent website:

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani was shown on Iraqiyah television meeting with the other 3 grand ayatollahs in Najaf, among whom he is first among equals. They include Bashir Najafi, Muhammad Ishaq Fayyad and Muhammad Sa`id al-Hakim. Sistani called for self-discipline and for peaceful demonstrations. He said Shiites must not attack Sunni mosques, but called for them to demonstrate peacefully. He laid responsibility for security on the Iraqi government, saying that it "is called today more than at any time in the past to shoulder its full responsibilities in stopping the series of criminal actions that have targeted holy spaces. If the security apparatuses are unable to safeguard against this crisis, the believers are able to do so, by the aid of God."

Astonishingly, Sistani seems to be threatening to deploy his own militia, Ansar Sistani, if the Iraqi government doesn't do a better job of protecting Shiites and their holy sites. One lesson Sistani will have taken from the bombing of the Askariyah shrine in Samarra is that he is not very secure in Najaf, either. But all we need in Iraq is yet another powerful private sectarian militia!

http://www.juancole.com/2006/02/sistani-threatens-to-turn-to-militia.html

[Teaser]

9. He's ordering *shi'ah* mosques protected.

Not Sunni. Mookie is simply playing both sides against the middle. He's also trying to show up as-Sistani.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Good point - I hadn't noticed the difference. Thanks (n/t)

[Jacobin]

13. U.S. soldiers are obviously hunkered down in their bunkers

on orders from Rumfilled since the situation is utterly out of control and Rove can't afford a spike in U.S. casualties since "things are going well in Iraq" and the 2006 elections loom.

We went over there, destroyed their infrastructure and government, tortured and abused them, shot them indiscriminately, and allowed chaos to erupt.

Nice going neo-con idiots. Nice going

[wtmusic]

17. Within 6 months it's altogether possible the Green Zone

will be overrun. Seems like we're headed downhill for a while.

[cantstandbush]

16. Maybe they are getting their shit together and will come together and

kick the US the hell out!

[EuroObserver]

21. Wouldn't you want the same if it was your country

that had been invaded, your people violated?

[MrPrax]

18. Mature and Statemanlike Move...

Sadr fancies himself a statesman now, and it rather looks like he is succeeding..taking the moral high road here is certainly a strong contrast to the 'clergy' from late week burning embassies.

He sees a political future for himself and for Iraq - good for him and IF he is only doing it for 'perception management' purposes, fine...I wish more leaders would do 'peace' stuff and act moderately for perception management.

[EuroObserver]

20. Hear Hear.

ed: I've been hearing through Brit sources since 2002 that, at least in the south of Iraq, alSadr holds the key.

[MrPrax]

22. I thought so too...

I figure most of what we were told about al Sadr was bunk--especially after reading about all the intrigue surrounding his --um--arrest warrant by the Americans.

I figured then he was a Player that the West didn't want and other Iraqis were more than happy to go along with...but that was then (2002) and this is now...and the landscape has changed and the fellow looks like he is behaving like a good chap should...

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

19. There's blood in the streets, it's up to my ankles.

We picked this fiasco.

Now blood spills all over in the streets. Hooray for democracy?

It's hard to blame the world for hating us on this one.