Aide: al-Sadr could lift cease-fire

[ProSense]

Aide: al-Sadr could lift cease-fire

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer Fri Oct 26, 5:07 PM ET

BAGHDAD - Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr could end a ban on his militia's activities because of rising anger over U.S. and Iraqi raids against his followers, an aide said Friday amid concerns about rising violence and clashes between rival factions in the mainly Shiite south.

Al-Sadr's call for a six-month cease-fire has been credited with a sharp drop in the number of bullet-riddled bodies that turn up on the streets of Iraq and are believed to be victims of Shiite death squads.

Baghdad police found three people slain execution-style and bearing signs of torture on Friday, compared with the dozens often found on a typical day before al-Sadr's declaration. The morgue in the southern city of Kut received two bodies, including one pulled from the Tigris River.

Another five Iraqis were killed in attacks nationwide, including a woman who was caught up in a suicide attack north of Baghdad while she was walking to the market.

more

Monday 22 October: 81 dead

[ProSense]

1. "Al-Sadr's call for a six-month cease-fire has been credited with a sharp drop..."

Really? Every MSM report up to this point has attributed it to the surge. Now that violence is inching back up, they have to change the spin.

[TwilightGardener]

2. So that's what at least partially accounts for the drop in sectarian violence?

Does he really have that much power? I hope not, because he's not our pal.

[ProSense]

3. Here, read

this. Sadr is buying time, but his influence was established a long time ago.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Hm, sounds like he's laying low but somehow amassing power--

and it also sounds like violence is down because the Shia have chased out most of the Sunnis. Looks like Iraq's Shia did a "surge" of their own--or rather a "purge". Thanks, Prosense--as always, you are a font of valuable information.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Bush and al-Sadr have made a deal

Bush promised he won't have any Bunker Busters dropped on to his head if he agrees to collaborate with the occupation forces.

And as a bonus Bush will go ahead and have some Bunker Busters dropped on to the heads of any foes of al-Sadr who suggest this is really whats happening.

Bush made al-Sadr a deal he couldn't refuse. Chances are al-Sadr woke up with the head of his favorite horse in bed next to him.

I knew Bush didn't want this guy dead years ago when our military didn't air him out. Bush was saving him for something. Probably our elections.

Don


http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-11-12-al-sadr-cover_x.htm

Cleric al-Sadr may hold Iraq's future in his hands

Updated 11/13/2006 7:35 AM ET

BAGHDAD — Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric President Bush once dismissed as the head of a "band of thugs," has emerged as one of the most powerful forces in Iraq, commanding a large militia and a growing political organization.

U.S. and Iraqi forces passed on a chance to arrest al-Sadr two years ago. Instead, Iraq's Shiite leaders encouraged him to enter the political process. The idea was to co-opt a threat to the Iraqi government. Critics say the plan backfired, placing Iraq's future in the hands of a firebrand whose Mahdi Army militia has intensified religious warfare and threatened the country's stability.

[Disturbed]

6. " He's not our pal."

The Busholini Regime has no pals in Iraq, only paid temporary allies.

[NNN0LHI]

8. He will serve the same purpose Saddam did for so many years for us

And then after that we will hang him.

Don

[TwilightGardener]

7. Very interesting--you have to wonder why they didn't take him out even

after accusing his army of killing our soldiers and fomenting violence. Seems like they made a deal with the devil--which flies in the face of promoting "political reconciliation" between Sunni and Shia in the government and in neighborhoods. This is why Iraq does not have a functional government--they don't really need one, if militias control everything at the local level.

[ProSense]

9. Sadr isn't going to make a deal with Bush, doesn't need him. He's

got the main players on his side.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Not isn't going to. Already did. Years ago

Otherwise he wouldn't be able to fog a mirror.

Don

[ProSense]

11. Wrong,

Bush would be making a martyr of Sadr, and beside Sistani has already warned against that. Do you really believe Bush can kill Sadr if he doesn't cooperate? What then, bomb Iraq back to the middle ages?

[NNN0LHI]

13. Bush has already created over a million martyrs in Iraq

One more wouldn't make no difference. Believe me on this one.

And I think Bush already has bombed Iraq back to the middle ages.

Don

[ProSense]

14. OK! n/t

[ProSense]

12. Also, understand who Sadr is

Shia Muslims recognize four grand ayatollahs, the senior-most of spiritual leaders, that comprise the main Shia "seminary" in the holy city of Najaf.

The grand ayatollahs are Ali al-Sistani, Muhammad Sayid al-Hakim, Muhammad Ishaq Fayadh and Bashir Hussein al-Najafi.

Fayadh and Najafi almost exclusively focus on spiritual matters. Fayadh, an Afghan, is considered the senior-most leader by Afghan Shias. South Asian Shiites look to Najafi, who is of Pakistani origin.

Hakim, an Iraqi, is the uncle of Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim, the former head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. He was killed in a car bomb outside the Imam Ali mosque in August 2003. Hakim and Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr founded a political Islamic movement in the late 1950s.

Baqir al-Sadr was executed by Saddam Hussein's regime in 1980, and his cousin, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, was assassinated in 1999. Two of the grand ayatollah's sons were killed with him..

The remaining son, Muqtada al-Sadr, did not finish training at the Hawzah and has no formal Islamic standing. He takes his spiritual direction from an ultra-conservative, Iran-based, Iraqi-exiled cleric, Ayatollah Kazim al-Haeri, who was a student of Bakir al-Sadr.

link

Muqtada al-Sadr (born August 12, 1973) is the fourth son of a famous Iraqi Shi‘a cleric, the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr. He is also the son-in-law of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir As-Sadr. While he does not hold any official title in the Iraqi government, he is one of the most influential religious and political figures in the country.

Bush can kill him, but what would that lead to?

[NNN0LHI]

15. He won't kill him because he is more valuable alive than dead

That is obvious as hell.

Don

[ProSense]

16. What's the value:

killing U.S. soldiers and ethnic cleansing? Creating an Islamic state? Cutting off the oil supply? Aligning with Iran?

[TwilightGardener]

18. Seems like his value right now is in keeping the violence down--

of course, that's a very short-term advantage, but then we never do anything for the long-term over there, it seems--everything is a response, no long-term strategy.

[ProSense]

17. Kick! n/t