U.S. Plans To Arrest Shiite Cleric Sadr

[wellst0nev0ter]

Shit, meet fan :eyes:

U.S. Plans to Arrest Shiite Cleric Sadr
Marines, Iraqi Forces Seal Off Town of Fallujah

By Sewell Chan, Anthony Shadid and Fred Barbash
Monday, April 5, 2004; 1:04 PM

BAGHDAD, April 5 -- U.S. forces intend to arrest cleric Moqtada Sadr, a Shiite leader whose followers battled U.S. forces over the weekend, U.S. occupation spokesmen said Monday.

Dan Senor, a spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, said Monday that an Iraqi investigative judge had issued a warrant for Sadr's arrest months ago in connection with the murder of a moderate Shiite cleric last year.

The U.S. intends to execute the warrant without prior notice, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the U.S. military spokesman in Iraq.

MORE. . .

[fryguy]

1. this has bad written all over it

either he's jailed, in which case his followers rally against the US and launch more attacks in protest....

or

he's killed while they try to "arrest" him, making him a martyr, in which his followers rally against the US and launch more attacks in honor of his name......


who do we have running things in this country? a pack of ill-trained chimps?

[saigon68]

8. Governor Pontius Bremer of the Province of Eastern-Iraq-Nam

He's the guy in the red tie issuing an arrest warrant for a Holy Man..

Check out his bullet proof vest.

His mouthpiece of the Sanhedrin Senor Dan Senor just gave the "order"

"Arrest this Man"--- what has he done--- he is a terrorist--- If you say I am----He is a terrorist

[saigon68]

52. Sanhedrin Senor Dan Senor

This worthless Fuck

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. Ho, Man. What A Fuggin Dumbass

As for Sadr's arrest, Kimmitt said the reaction to any attempt to arrest Sadr "will depend on how he will take the news of this warrant, whether he decides to come peacefully or not come peacefully."

Didja need a degree to figure THAT one out, sherlock? :eyes:

[Just Me]

39. Yup,...they love the faux power of war and are complete failures at peace.

I knew this was going to happen. This "dumbass" administration behaves like bullies and finally escalates matters into an out and out explosion of violence.

They have no plan or theology or ideology of peace,...only the rule of force.

They are foolish and they are a failure!!!

[0007]

3. The Iraqis plan to Arrest Paul Bremer

....and if General Kimmitt doesn't shut up the Iraqis may arrest him just for being in Iraq.

[leQ]

51. *giggle*

n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Oh boy they are walking into it, aren't they

GOOD GOING PAUL you have NO F'KING CLUE!

[loudsue]

5. Good grief: Another version of "Bring it On!"

Those poor Iraqi citizens, those poor unwitting American soldiers....look at all the people caught in this crossfire.

Just another one of bush's messes...let's see his daddy get him out of this one!

When are the international courts going to slam bush's ass in jail? Nobody could be more deserving.

:kick:

[Briarius]

6. Seriously, does anybody think these things through?

I'm sure this will make things all better. I wish I was a flower seller in Baghdad, I could make a killing after this. </sarcasm>

[Chicago Democrat]

7. Sadr must have 1000000 fanatical followers?? Right?

Letsee 35 Million Iraqis times 60% Shia equals 18 million Shia. Sadr is only 10% but his popularity is growing. So maybe 2 million total, 1 million men, 100,000 fanatic young men willing to die. Hmmmm. This is a tremendous blunder and if they follow through, it is all over.

Which dude do you follow if you are a 21 yo male shiia and you are pissed off because there is no electricity or clean water and they just humiliated your Pope?

[paulk]

15. there are fourteen million Shiites in Iraq

Sadr aides claim his Mahdi army numbers 10,000. Other sources put that number as low as 1,500 to 3,000.

http://www.cfr.org/background/background_iraq_alsadr.php

this article is from Oct., so it's quite possible his support has grown. I doubt it's 100,000 though.

[Chicago Democrat]

33. On Air America an "expert" said that Sadr had 100,000 fanatic followers.

So there you go.

[PaDUer]

21. Sadr is from Iran..n/t

[Aidoneus]

24. No he isn't..

his family are Iraqi Arabs. The Sadrs have a long lineage in Iraq. That may be Sayyid Sistani you're thinking of..

[PaDUer]

30. You're right...

thanks!

[aneerkoinos]

29. Not Sadr but Sistani n/t

[Bozita]

9. ...and this is gonna bring peace to the streets?

unfuckingbelievable

[Aidoneus]

10. they'll do more to make a hero and martyr of him..

that even he has. :eyes:

[FearandLoathing41]

16. If we had a hundred guillotine's and ran 'em day and night for a month...

we could not hack off enough heads, to get anything close to control of Fallujah and Sadr City...If your national image can't stand those sorts of measures...here's a little suggestion...dont go there in the first place.

[Zero Gravitas]

11. That'll solve everything

riiiiight :eyes:

[Fire_Wire]

12. I hope they maryter him

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bif]

13. Ruh-ro!

Can you say "Revolution"?

[number6]

14. Bad move

:( :nuke: as the world burns ...

[silverpatronus]

18. can they even legally arrest him?

they're not the iraqi police, and he hasn't committed any crime on american soil as far as i can see. can the US LEGALLY arrest a citizen of another country for crimes committed on that country's soil?

[wellst0nev0ter]

32. He Engaged In "Anti-Coalition" Activities

or someother ex post facto bullshit Bolshevik style law they come up with :eyes:

[Jazzgirl]

19. This is gonna be horrible!

I don't understand why they would want to "incite" (to use CPA's term) more violence by issuing a warrant on this man. They have totally lost it.

[paulk]

20. Sadr has long been suspected in the murder of Khoei

this warrent was handed down months ago by an Iraqi judge - not the coalition. Bremer has decided to execute the warrent now, for obvious reasons - Sadr has encouraged his followers to openly revolt.

I don't see what choice the coalition has. The charge of murdering another Cleric would carry a lot of weight in the Shiite community, and, if true, would descredit Sadr as a religious leader.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,442342,00.html

[leftchick]

22. Indiana Green has been posting links that show these charges are Lies...

IG's posts are in several threads in LBN. They are linked to articles from the Guardian disproving this bogus US charge of assasination. I will see if I can find one.

[paulk]

25. An article in the Guardian is not proof

I've read the article, and their story may very well be true. I don't know. That's what trials are for - determining the truth.

Al-Sadr certainly had a motive - Khoei would have been his main rival in Najef.

[tedzbear]

23. True, but where's the proof?

At this point, Sadr's popularity far exceeds his censure. It will be interesting to see what the big guy, Sistani, says about him in the coming days. He may decide to say nothing which would be just as damaging as coming out in support of him.
The Iraqi people will expect a fair trial before laying judgment on this popular figure who is of royal Shiite blood. As of Sunday, he has become the Che of Iraq and probably will soon be a martyr for the Shiites of all stripes to rally behind.

This is escalating very fast. Bremer is exerting the control that he promised would never happen. He should never have ordered the Iraqi police to fire on the protesters yesterday. They put on ski masks when they did this so their neighbors wouldn't accuse them of murder when they returned home from work.

:nuke:


P.S. I love the term the USA is using for the armed punishment of these angry towns: "pacifying."

[paulk]

28. We really won't know the extent of Sadr's popularity until this plays out

It's not unlikely that Sistani is behind this arrest warrent - he could then use the coalition to crush his rival, much like the way he is using the coalition to weaken the Sunni.

Bremer is a fool. Neither he or the rest of the junta understand the
complexities of this thing. They're being played.

[louis-t]

50. re: al-Sadr's popularity-US actions will escalate his status until

he is the new Ayatollah Khomeini. They are doing him a great favor. Shut down his newspaper, threaten him with arrest, chase him from a hideout-these idiots will, never, ever, learn.

[PurityOfEssence]

27. Even if Sadr was literally dripping with his blood, it'd still be stupid

Ah, the joys of tough-guy macho Republicanism.

[leftchick]

26. "If the Americans try to arrest him, we will all explode," :Reuters

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040405/ts_nm/iraq_dc

<snip>
The announcement was likely to stir fresh fury among Sadr's thousands of supporters who have opposed America's postwar plans for Iraq in armed demonstrations over the past few days.

"There's no way Sayyid Moqtada will turn himself in," said a Sadr supporter outside the group's office in the Baghdad slum district of Sadr City. "If the Americans try to arrest him, we will all explode," said the man, who gave his name as Haider.

U.S. forces have long struggled to quell Sunni insurgents since the war that toppled Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) nearly a year ago, but are now facing a chaotic surge of Shi'ite unrest.

Sadr supporters had lit fires around the office in an attempt to create a smokescreen against U.S. helicopters prowling the skies. About six U.S. tanks were deployed nearby. A U.S. helicopter earlier machine-gunned targets in the capital's mainly Shi'ite district of Shuala. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the U.S. army in Iraq, said the helicopter was responding to small-arms fire.

[daleo]

31. They should arrest Chalabi first

Then Bush, Rummy, Blair, etc.

[Calico Jack Rackham]

35. Charged with murder in Iraq?

Now that is really a funny one. Anybody remember in "Apocalypse Now" when Capt. Williard says: "Charging someone with murder in this place is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500. We cut them in half with a machinegun and give them a band-aid".

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dudeness]

37. lol..you wanna know what a coward is..

a coward is a political leader that sends his own countrymen to a faraway land to fight an illegal war on the basis of fabricated evidence..

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dudeness]

41. I stand by my previous statement..

a coward is a political leader that sends his own countrymen to a faraway land to fight an illegal war on the basis of fabricated evidence..

if any of the previous conflicts were fought under this pretext then they were in my view ILLEGAL..

[JohnyCanuck]

44. You sound like the British Redcoats

in the revolutionary war pissing and moaning because Washington's "cowardly" band of ragtag rebels hid behind rocks and wouldn't fight "fair", by lining themselves up in neat little squares and straight lines (like honorable gentlemen would) so as to make easy targets for the redcoats' cannon and musket fire.

Sadr is no more a coward by using whatever he has available for cover that gives some immunity to an enemy counter attack than the B52 pilots that overflew Iraq at 40,000 feet dropping bunker busters and daisy cutters at will knowing there was little likelihood that the Iraqis had anything that could touch them, leaving them free to kill, maim and destroy at will (like this http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm ).

[Bonhomme Richard]

36. I have to post this cartoon from Asia Times - says it all

[pinto]

38. Americans, concluded Khusai, surveying his gunmen, "don't understand

what loyalty to an imam means."

I think the imam means it


thanks to Don for the post:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/iraq/cst-nws-imood06.html

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bonhomme Richard]

43. Time to grow up don't you think? n/t

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dudeness]

46. I believe your statement shows

a complete absence of knowledge of iraq ..its peoples and history of resistance..might i suggest you read a book by tariq ali..titled "bush in babylon"..cheers..

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dudeness]

48. yes ..it is a good read..

the only problem is 2tango..is that our forces are occupying a soveriegn country..organised resistance was at some point going to occur..this is a problem all imperialist forces face when they invade a country..history tells us this is a war we cannot win..

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[alcuno]

53. I hope that this plan is better than the one for the invasion and

occupation of Iraq. Oh that's right. Rumsfeld had a crummy plan for the invasion and the WH had no plan for the occupation.