Sadr aides say cleric still in Iraq

[maddezmom]

By Dean Yates and Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is still in Iraq and has not left for Iran, several of his aides said on Wednesday, after American officials suggested he may have departed to avoid an offensive against militants.

The conflicting reports over the anti-American cleric's whereabouts came after Iraq said on Tuesday it would close its borders with Iran and Syria and lengthen a night curfew in Baghdad to try to curb unrelenting violence in the capital.

Four Sadr aides said he was still in Iraq, with some saying he was in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf but had reduced public appearances for "security reasons". They did not elaborate.

"He is now in Iraq," Nassar al-Rubaei, head of the Sadrist bloc in Iraq's parliament, said without giving further details.

more:http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/YAT418381.htm

Sadr bloc denies he's fled to Iran

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Aides to radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have denied reported allegations by US intelligence officials that the Shiite leader has fled to Iran.

Nassar al-Rubaie said Sadr was "still inside Iraq and working normally" but would not say exactly where.

Bassem al-Aathari, an official at Sadr's office in Najaf, south of Baghdad, said the cleric was still in the Shiite holy city and that if he was to travel abroad it would be announced as it had been before.

Earlier, US media had reported that the firebrand anti-American cleric had fled to Tehran fearing that his house could could bombed by US forces as part of a stepped up plan for ending sectarian violence in Iraq.

"It's ridiculous. It's nothing," Rubaie told AFP in Baghdad.

"If the US army already in Iraq is incapable of resisting Sadr, what difference would 20,000 reinforcements make?" he demanded.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070214/wl_afp/iraqunrestsadrusdeny_070214071112

[Bonobo]

1. Impossible! We said he was in Iran! It couldn't be true!

Isn't there some kind of a law about intentionally lying?

It's a sad day when your own country's credibility is SO LOW that you would believe almost ANYONE but them. But tragically, that's how low my opinion of them is.

[maddezmom]

3. CNN's Michael Ware just reported the claims he fled due to a crackdown in Baghdad

are ludicrous as his base is in Najaf. :shrug: Also noted that the officials that commented about Sadr were from the White House and in the past their information has been proven inaccurate.

[snowbear]

4. Michael Ware ABSOLUTELY rocks !!!!

I loved it today when Wolf was hyperventilating on this story.. and Jack Cafferty told him to calm down and listen to what Michael Ware had just reported. Cafferty said "first of all, our sources from the Bush Administration were "unnamed", secondly, the dude's been gone --- if he's even gone -- for 2 or 3 weeks"


Michael Ware - CNN Baghdad Correspondent

Michael Ware always tells them the TRUTH.. And Cafferty suspected right from the start that someone was trying to toss out some bogus breaking news to throw off the upcoming surge vote.

[Hissyspit]

6. I saw that. Ware looked really annoyed by the stupidity of it all. n/t

[maddezmom]

7. He made it very clear he doesn't buy the propaganda coming out of the White House

he's one guy I trust to get an accurate picture of what is really going on over there.

[Little Wing]

2. What? No way!

IMPOSSIBLE!

[uppityperson]

5. Gee, who to believe. Our lying egomaniacs or theirs.

[maddezmom]

8. good question, now it seems he's decided to stay out of the public eye for religious reasons

According to the aide, the cleric has decided not to appear in public during Muharram, the current month in the Islamic calendar, and next month during Safar. Muharram and Safar are two of the four holy months of an Islamic year.

http://us.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/02/14/wednesday/index.html

[maddezmom]

9. TIme: On the Trail of Iraq’s Missing Cleric

~snip~
But Abdel-Hadi al-Mohamedawi, one of Sadr's spokesmen, told TIME that the cleric hasn’t gone anywhere. “This is just a rumor, planted by the Americans to coincide with their security plan,” he said. “They want to stir up things up, to make trouble.”

In Sadr City, the giant Baghdad slum that is his stronghold, there is confusion about his whereabouts. A group of supporters said they met him in Najaf as recently as last week. “He told us, 'I would rather die here than flee,'” said one resident who was part of that group. But other Sadr City residents say they have heard that Sadr is out of the country, exact location unknown. The main Shi'ite radio station broadcasting from Sadr City has studiously avoided the subject.

Some clerics in Najaf told TIME that Sadr has left quietly, and that his office there is still keeping up the pretense that he is in town. “When you ask for a meeting with Moqtada, they say, 'He's busy,'” said one cleric, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from Sadr's supporters. “After they did that a few times, it became clear that he was no longer in Najaf.”

It is not unusual for Sadr to drop out of sight for long spells, and he has previously traveled to Iran without much warning. If he is there now, it would seem to confirm reports that the Mahdi Army is seeking to avoid confrontation with American and Iraqi troops. In recent days, militia commanders have said they had received orders from Sadr's office in Najaf to stand down and lie low.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1589632,00.html

[izzie]

10. I do not know why this made Denmark and Hitler recalled.

Why does that come back to me? I know the Am. people thought highly of the people of Denmark but I can not figure out why I am putting us in the place of Hitler and Germany. Am I thinking we are doing to the people of Iraq they same thing?

[Doondoo]

11. The lying machine seems to be cranked up full-blast

[antiimperialist]

12. By lying, U.S. "Tempting Sadr into the open", aide said

I don't know what is going on here, but if these reports of Sadr fleeing turn out to be false, the assertion stated above is a plausible one.

[antiimperialist]

13. ABC News' streak of misinformation continues.

ABC broke this news.

First Path to 9-11, then this, and many other false or misleading reports started by this news outlet are making me believe ABC is the new Fox.

I'm an immigrant who has been in this country for only a few years. I don't know the history of ABC.
Has ABC always been this biased? Or is this a new thing.

[pinniped]

14. Really, his aides also refer to him as radical?

Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is still in Iraq and has not left for Iran, several of his aides said on Wednesday

[Eugene]

15. U.S. military still insists that Sadr is in Iran.

(Reuters)

U.S. military says cleric Sadr in Iran
Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:12 AM EST

By Dean Yates and Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has left Iraq and is in Iran,
the U.S. military said on Wednesday, after the cleric's aides denied earlier reports he
had departed to avoid an offensive against militants.

"All indications are in fact that he is in Iran and he left last month," U.S. military
spokesman Major-General William Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad.

Earlier, four of Sadr's aides rejected suggestions by unidentified U.S. officials in
Washington that the cleric had left to escape the crackdown, saying he was still in
Iraq and keeping a low profile in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf.

"We are tracking Moqtada al-Sadr very closely," Caldwell said.

-snip-

Full article: http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-02-14T131249Z_01_L13105214_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-IRAQ-COL.XML

[Oreo]

18. They're saying he left last month?

Other stories said he just left b/c of the 72-hour closing of the borders. This is fabrication in the worst way. They'll do anything and everything to justify their surge and an attack on Iran. I'm sure they'll think it's totally sensible to attack Iran for harboring Al-Sadr even though they had him in Iraq the whole time. We're headed for a disaster on the scale that this country has never seen.

[Felinity]

16. New oxymoron: White House Credibility

CNN White House Correspondent Susanne Malveaux reported from the WH that al-Sadr had fled from our additional 20,000+ troops after seeing how successful our new push to reclaim Baghdad is. For a moment I thought, wow, is this possible, could we possibly be getting a break? Regardless of the political fallout for the left, I wanted it to be true.

Then my boyfriend pointed out that the (ill-named) Malveaux was speaking from the White House which brought me back to a more cynical (and reality-based) point of view.

On the lighter side, should I add that it appears than "CNN Credibility" is also oxymoronic.

Back here in "Reality" I must ask: What does this say about our intelligence capabilities in Iraq/Iran?

[Oreo]

17. It's SO painfully obvious they're trying to justify war with Iran

Now they're saying the helicopters are being brought down by "sophisticated weapons" which I'm sure we'll learn are from Iran.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070214/pl_nm/iraq_usa_helicopter_dc

[happyslug]

19. I suspect a plot by the US Military to flush Sadr Out

Basically I think the US Military KNOWS Sadr is in Baghdad, but does NOT know where. Sadr is keeping himself off the radar screen to avoid being captured or Killed by the US Military or its Allies. Thus the Military issued this statement to force Sadr's hand. Sadr can either stay underground and the US Military can call him a Coward for "Escaping" to Iran (Thus weakening Sadr hold over his own Militia) or Sadr can come out of wherever he is hiding to a Crowd informed he will be in a certain location. That would give the US Military a date, time and Place Sadr will be so that the Military can either kill him or Capture him.

Sadr's best solution may be to go around the Slums of Baghdad (his power base) and have people see him (But gives the US Military an opportunity to take him for his whereabouts will be discussed by the people of the Slums). Another opportunity would be to go to a Mosque and give a brief appearance, apologize for having to make his appearance brief do to fears the US Military wants him dead, and then leave. A third option is to rely on the loyalty of his followers and tel them he is with them but does NOT dare to show his face.

As I said the US Military is trying to force Sadr out of wherever he is hiding, and the reason for that is NOT in Sadr's best interest.

[LibertyorDeath]

20. Sadr in Iran

Hiding among their largest oil fields no doubt.


The only way to safely get to him is to "secure the Iranian oil fields" first

said a Pentagon official.