Shiite cleric's followers ready to fight

[maddezmom]

Source: CNN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement is "ready for all options" in a growing confrontation between his followers and the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a spokesman said Monday.


Nassar al-Rubaie said the rival parties that dominate Iraq's government failed to meet conditions al-Sadr laid down in his March 30 declaration that temporarily halted fighting between Shiite militias and government forces in the southern city of Basra.

He said responses from members of the United Iraqi Alliance who have served as mediators in the confrontation have not met "the level of seriousness required by the Sadrists."

"We reviewed reactions to Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr's latest statement, and we are ready for all options," said al-Rubaie, one of the 30 Sadrist lawmakers in Iraq's 275-member parliament.

Al-Sadr ordered his fighters in Basra to stand down and cooperate with government forces in the March 30 declaration, but called on the government to free non-convicted prisoners from his movement, stop what he called "illegal" raids on his followers and launch new public works projects across the country.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/21/iraq.main/index.html?section=cnn_latest

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Sadr condemns 'terrorist occupier'


Published: April 21, 2008 at 4:23 PM
BAGHDAD, April 21 (UPI) -- Moqtada al-Sadr Monday called on the Iraqi government to put a stop to visits from "the terrorist occupier" following a visit by the U.S. secretary of state.

Sadr issued a handwritten statement Monday a day after a surprise visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad, Iran's Press TV said.

"We call on the Iraqi government to prevent the entry of the terrorist occupiers on our land," the statement read.

Fawzi Tarzi with the Sadrist Movement, Sadr's political party, followed the statement noting the demands by the Iraqi government to disband Sadr's Mahdi Army "will mean the end of the Maliki government," al-Alam reported.

more:http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Emerging_Threats/Briefing/2008/04/21/sadr_condemns_terrorist_occupier/7162/

[Supersedeas]

1. the surge is working, making progress, turning the corner, last throes

[Javaman]

2. That light at the end of the tunnel?

It's a pile of tires on fire.

[fujiyama]

3. What I have to ask

is HOW THE FUCK DO WE MANAGE TO ALIENATE EVERY SIDE IN IRAQ? Sadr is a nutcase, but I thought we were liberating his people? Remember that crap about liberation?

God, this whole thing is so stupid. The people who started and are continuing this war should all be hanged, not just for committing crimes against humanity but for being fucking stupid as shit!