Iraqi cleric threatens action if US forces remain

[unhappycamper]

Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn US flags during a rally marking the eighth anniversary of the fall of the Iraqi capital to American troops in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 9, 2011. A powerful anti-American Shiite cleric has threatened to reactivate his feared militia in Iraq if U.S. soldiers extend their stay.


Iraqi cleric threatens action if US forces remain
By BUSHRA JUHI
The Associated Press

BAGHDAD — A powerful anti-American Shiite cleric threatened Saturday to reactivate his feared militia if U.S. soldiers remain in Iraq beyond this year, following an offer by the Obama administration to keep troops on if they are needed.

Eight years to the day after former dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted, cleric Muqtada al-Sadr issued a statement to his followers that stopped just short of calling for violent action against U.S. forces. He accused "the occupation" of inciting panic, corruption and unrest among Iraqis.

His statement was read aloud at a huge protest of tens of thousands in Baghdad's Mawal Square, near al-Sadr's Sadr City stronghold. The cleric is in Iran, where he has been studying religion for the last several years.

"What if the invasion forces will not leave our lands?" al-Sadr said in the statement, which was read at the protest by his aide Salah al-Obeidi. "What if the U.S. forces and others stay in our beloved lands? What if their companies and embassy headquarters will continue to exist with the American flags hoisted on them? Will you be silent? Will you overlook this?"

"No, no America. No, no America," the crowd shouted in reply.

[Keith Bee]

1. I don't fucking blame him!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4804335

[Ed Suspicious]

2. It would be pretty hard to find fault with that sentiment.