Moqtada al-Sadr orders Iraq PM out ofBasra

[bemildred]

Source: Telegraph UK

The Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has demanded that the country's prime minister leave Basra where he is overseeing a military operation to purge the southern city of its radical Shi'ite militiamen.

Relations between Sadr and Nouri al-Maliki have deteriorated sharply as the two men clashed over fighting between Iraqi forces and gunmen in Sadrist communities in Iraq.

---

A spokesman for Sadr said his movement had appealed to Mr Maliki to reduce tensions in the city by returning to Baghdad and sending a parliamentary delegation to seek an end to fighting.

Liwa Sumaysim, a spokesman for Sadr said: "Sadr has asked prime minister Maliki to leave Basra and to send a parliamentary delegation to resolve the crisis in the city."

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/26/wiraq326.xml

[Solly Mack]

1. Well....

and there's that

[babylonsister]

2. OK, it's getting uglier. Sigh. Take that, *. Mission accomplished? nt

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Shia v Shia...

A most unpredictable conflict...:(

[ohio2007]

16. it's local politics.

mookie is the minority party against the larger SCIRI party.

[Botany]

4. But what about the surge?

It is working isn't it?

[Lasher]

41. Yes, just like the tax cuts.

Just last year Junior said the economy is booming because of his tax cuts for rich people. I think the surge is working just about as well.

[wtmusic]

5. Clever. The Telegraph relabels al-Sadrs request an "order", and a "demand"

I call bullshit. But par for the course in any Western media discussion of "radical firebrand" Moqtada.

[bemildred]

6. Yah, that's what I thought too.

He'd better get a clue, they are after his ass now.

[wtmusic]

9. Get a clue? How so? nt

[bemildred]

12. Get a clue that they are after his ass now.

Isn't that what I said?

[wtmusic]

13. They've been after his ass for a while.

The US attempted to assassinate him in 2004. He narrowly escaped.

"Last week the US military said it wanted to open direct, peaceful talks with him, but the cleric told the IoS he rejected the idea.

"There is nothing to talk about," he said angrily. "The Americans are occupiers and thieves, and they must set a timetable to leave this country. We must know that they are leaving, and we must know when." He has reason to be wary of US offers to negotiate. As revealed by The Independent last month, respected Iraqi political figures believe the US army tried to kill or capture Mr Sadr after luring him to peace talks in Najaf in 2004."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/moqtada-alsadr-the-man-america-has-in-its-sights-451534.html

[bemildred]

14. Whatever you say. nt

[ConcernedCanuk]

27. "The Americans are occupiers and thieves" - that's stating the obvious

.
.
.

Sadr has more respect from the Iraqis than Americans do.

and more power.

But the USA in their infinite wisdom will try to take him out with a missile from a drone.

Could never take him out with a face to face debate with Bush or any of the Bush gang,

Because the thinking of the BushGang defies all logic, and the BushGang would lose . .

So they will try to kill him

Again.

[cliss]

29. I agree.

(comment below)

[bemildred]

7. Militiamen Holding Out in Basra Fighting

---

Despite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ultimatum Wednesday, government troops in Basra were having trouble making inroads into neighborhoods that the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army has controlled for years. Residents spoke of militiamen using mortar shells, sniper fire, roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades to fight off security forces.

A Pentagon official said reports from the Basra area indicate that militiamen had overrun a number of police stations and that it was unclear how well the Iraqi security forces were performing overall. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

--- (rundown of recent violence)

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-26-18-16-51

[Supersedeas]

36. win or lose, whether the Iraqi security forces stand or fall, Petraeus will claim victory

[Lasher]

42. I wonder how many times you can win the same thing?

From 'mission accomplished' to 'the surge worked' it looks like we're having to re-win this thing over and over. Just to mix things up a little maybe Betrayus will just say we 'turned the corner' or something.

[bemildred]

8. Mahdi militia makes Sadr City its stronghold

BAGHDAD - Shiite militiamen are everywhere. Police and Iraqi army checkpoints are nowhere in sight. U.S. soldiers are keeping their distance.

Sadr City — the Baghdad nerve center for the powerful Mahdi Army — is suddenly back on edge as the militia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, and Iraq’s government lock in a dangerous confrontation over clout and control among the nation’s majority Shiites.

The epicenter of the showdown has been the southern oil hub of Basra, where clashes have claimed dozens of lives this week and al-Sadr’s forces face a Friday deadline to surrender.

But a more finely tuned measure of the tensions may be found among the one- and two-story homes and shabby storefronts of Sadr City. As the crisis deepened, The Associated Press toured Sadr City on Wednesday to observe its rapid swing from relative quiet to a return of the Mahdi Army swagger before the U.S. military troop buildup in Baghdad last year.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23815761/

[bemildred]

10. Iraqi regime launches assault on Basra

---

One Mahdi Army militiaman, reached by telephone in Baghdad’s Sadr City, told the Christian Science Monitor, “The cease-fire is over; we have been told to fight the Americans.” One official in Sadr’s Basra office, speaking on condition of anonymity, informed a Los Angeles Times reporter, “The Sadr current is threatening to set fire to the oil wells in Basra if the Iraqi military continues its security plan.”

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government initiated the latest violence by launching a major military campaign early Tuesday morning against Sadr’s forces in Basra, the center of Iraq’s oil industry. While the US media passes along the claim that the assault came in response to clashes in recent days between Iraqi police and army forces and elements of Sadr’s Mahdi Army, the operation, codenamed Saulat al-Fursan (Charge of the Knights), was obviously planned well in advance, with the support or insistence of the American and British military. The New York Times noted in passing that “senior Iraqi officials had been signaling for weeks.” As many as 15,000 Iraqi troops are involved.

---

Al Jazeera reports that in retaliation a number of presidential palaces and Iraqi security and military bases in Basra “came under intensive attack during the assault. Mahdi Army forces also stormed the main Iraqi army base in Shatt al-Arab camp in the city.” Sadr supporters, according to one press account, also attacked the offices of Maliki’s Dawa Party, and fought with guards, an episode that resulted in seven deaths. In addition, government sources said that the Mahdi Army attacked a number of security checkpoints. The latter’s spokesmen, in fact, announced it had taken over Iraqi army checkpoints.

---

In fact, according to the German news agency DPA, the Iranian regime “wants to liquidate” the Sadr movement “and is pressing its allies within the Iraqi government to move against” the latter and the Mahdi Army in Basra. “Both the US and Iran, albeit at loggerheads over many issues, share an interest in backing” the Supreme Council against Sadr’s Mahdi Army.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/iraq-m26.shtml

[Solly Mack]

24. The last part

Always a feint within a feint within a feint

[bemildred]

26. Yah.

Al Sadr is an Iraqi nationalist, neither Iran nor the US wants that. So they gang up on him, and if he gets eliminated, then they can argue about who controls the rubble. Meanwhile we get a lot of smoke and mirrors, anything but the truth. I'm mostly disappointed that we are carrying water for the Iranians here, very shallow thinking. I guess the idea is that Iranian hegemony is better than admitting we lost, or who knows what these fools are thinking?

[Breeze54]

11. lmao! We need to put these two in the ring alone!

One says al-Sadr has 72 hours to surrender and now this. :P

I know it's not a funny situation but that title struck me funny.

[ohio2007]

15. By who's authority does mookie "request" Maliki to leave? Guess we find out in 3 days eh?

Maliki has 17,000 Iraqi soldiers with him.
imo, this will be his govt's trial by fire.

For the sake of downsizing our footprint over the next four years,we should hope he does well.

[wtmusic]

17. Our puppet's success will downsize our footprint?

Pray do tell, how you have arrived at that assumption. :crazy:

IMO "Mookie" requests with more legit authority than puppet Maliki.

[harun]

31. I agree, don't uder estimate the power of the people, it used to mean

something, even in the U.S.A.

Muqtada has more credibility and support than an American puppet ever will.

[ohio2007]

44. it has been three days. ...mookie caved in ,ordered fighters off the street

and he begins bartering with the Maliki to release his fighters that have been imprisioned;

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Sunday ordered his fighters off the streets nationwide and called on the government to stop raids against his followers and free them from prison.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement calling the order “a step in the right direction”

snip
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23866765/

So,
will his fighters be released and made to promise not to attack the government forces as mookie has instructed?

Even though some airstrikes were rattling his home base before he blinked,Mookie is a man of his word and can be trusted, right?
There are larger militias in Iraq but the MSM has picked their darling theocratic koran thumper minority champion in mookie and would prefer not to hear from some of the other larger groups.

[ohio2007]

45. you should poll the majority in Iraq before you assume he is the leader of the theocracy

you hope Iraq becomes.Step outside the US media and find other sources that print the news in English. You'd be shocked how cluele$$ the U$ M$M is since they sidelined and never feature their previously highly touted middle east "expert puppets" anymore.

[hwmnbn]

18. NOW I get it...

"mookie" is Muqtada. :think:

I'm pretty slow sometimes

[tabasco]

39. The same authority the Norwegians had when they fought the Quisling regime.

The same authority the Free French had when they fought Vichy France.
The same authority the Dutch had when they resisted the Nazi occupation.

The authority of a sovereign people to resist foreign invaders and collaborators.

[ohio2007]

47. The same authority Saddam had over his people ?

"the soveriegn people"?
GBAFB LOL

Do the Sunni and Kurds buy into what you are selling ? Most of the shia tribes don't either especially the several smaler tribes street fighting al Sadr for gang land power in Basra.

Sadr blinked. The majority of people have spoken but nobody in the west wants to it spun like that.

[Nitrogenica]

19. Moqtada al-Sadr orders Iraq PM out of Basra

Source: telegraph.co.uk

The Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has demanded that the country's prime minister leave Basra where he is overseeing a military operation to purge the southern city of its radical Shi'ite militiamen

Mr Maliki gave followers of Sadr and other Shi'ite gunmen 72 hours to surrender their weapons and renounce violence or bear the brunt of a military crackdown.

"We are not going to chase those who hand over their weapons within 72 hours," said Mr Maliki. "If they do not surrender their arms, the law will follow its course."

A spokesman for Sadr said his movement had appealed to Mr Maliki to reduce tensions in the city by returning to Baghdad and sending a parliamentary delegation to seek an end to fighting.



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/26/wiraq326.xml

[Doctor_J]

20. Was that before or after Al-Sadr was shot?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3244291

We're about 2 weeks from total meltdown in Iraq

[frogcycle]

21. think it will take that long?

it is, of course, intentional - with a meltdown we can get increased Iranian involvement and then we obviously just HAVE to attack Iran...

[harun]

32. I actually can't see how Iran can be as restrained as they are

they could absolutely flood the place with advanced weapons if they wanted to and make it 1000x worse. There has to be many in the Iranian government that are tempted to do just that.

[frogcycle]

33. and we are doing our best to sucker them into it

[ohio2007]

48. Iran has two dogs in this fight

those dogs are from two different locations in Iran but
I doubt the mods on this board want to see that spin get posted again.

< self delete >
;)

In the meantime, it's best to let the Iranian leaders attempt to whip their people into a hate frenzy over the latest Dutch media release.

I don't think the college students really care much at all about that docudrama short they are not allowed to see anyway.

[TwilightGardener]

22. Mind you, this is a Shia against Shia power-grab. Even the Shia

can't figure out how to get along with each other.

[noamnety]

35. That's not really the issue.

They got along for centuries until we invaded.

It might help to think in terms of nationalist/separatist rather than sectarian groups.

The elected parliament, the will of the people, is to keep Iraq whole.

We put in place the head of the executive branch who wants to divide Iraq into three separate states, and he appointed all separatists to his cabinet.

I think "can't figure out how to get along with each other" has a touch of western supremacy embedded into the attitude.

[fascisthunter]

23. Our Government is Being Run by Idiots

[razors edge]

25. Holy Shiite,

Who could have imagined?

[cal04]

28. Sadr followers march to demand downfall of Maliki

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27277457.htm
* Sadr supporters march in Baghdad

* Saboteurs blow up southern oil export pipeline

Thousands of supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched in Baghdad on Thursday to protest against a three-day-old crackdown against his followers and call for the downfall of the U.S.-backed government.

Mass demonstrations were held in the Sadr City, Kadhimiya and Shula districts. An Interior Ministry source said hundreds of thousands had taken to the streets.

"We demand the downfall of the Maliki government. It does not represent the people. It represents Bush and Cheney," said Sadr City resident Hussein Abu Ali.

"The government wants to root out the Sadr movement ahead of provincial elections. We are demonstrating -- women, children and men -- to demand an end to the military operation. These are our brothers," said a man who gave his name as Abu Ammar.

Black smoke near US embassy after Baghdad blast
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27256788.htm
A giant column of black smoke was visible near the U.S. embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone on Thursday after an apparent mortar strike, a Reuters reporter said.

Dozens killed in Iraq Shiite city clashes: police chief
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080327/wl_afp/iraqunrestkut_080327095731

[cliss]

30. I just finished reading European newspapers

about this.

It seems that there are simultaneous uprisings, both in Baghdad and Basra. This could be a plan to scatter U.S. forces. Al Sadr could be baiting US forces into Basra, thereby leaving Baghdad vulnerable to attack. I just read that the Green Zone is being repeatedly attacked.

Basra is the country's only port city and that's where a lot of the oil is shipped out = incredibly vulnerable. Also, it's a vulnerable supply line of equipment for the US troops. Al Sadr must surely know this.

It could be the plan: force US troops into Basra. Storm the government in Baghdad. Declare victory, demand US troops out immediately.

[Ordr]

34. Pull. The Fuck. Out.

[Voltaire99]

37. God. Damn. Right.

[darue]

38. hmmm... I thought we had them surounded last week? guess not n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

40. Helluva thread.

But :hurts:

[onager]

43. Some eyewitness accounts from residents...

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1203758437747&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

...Abdel-Kareem is not the only one angry with the powerful young Shiite leader.

"Moqtada al-Sadr is acting against religious principles," he said, preferring not to give his full name for fear of being latter targeted.

"I was his follower but now I reject any order from him or his army. He disappeared for more than a year and now comes back thinking he has the right to cause so much pain and suffering," he added..."Sometimes I think they are paid to cause this chaotic situation."

Basra has recently become the theatre of a bitter turf war between the Mehdy Army and the rival Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) and the smaller Fadhila party. The three Shiite factions are fighting to control the city which supplies nearly 80 percent of Iraq's oil production.

"When British troops left Basra we were optimistic that our life were going to change and we were going to be a new Kurdistan, where security and peace are the main characteristics," said Hussein Obeid, a doctor. "But the Mehdy army couldn’t accept this and are responsible for this useless fight."

And al-Sadr is MUCH more than just a "nationalist leader," as some DU'ers are calling him...

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1196786059804&pagename=Zone-English-News%2FNWELayout

"Morality Militia" Controls Basra

The Shiite militiamen allegedly killed more than 40 unveiled women in the past five months.

CAIRO — Scrolling through mobile phones for "immoral" music or pictures, ordering all women, including Christians, to wear hijab or face death and instructing men to grow beards, self-appointed Shiite morality police are now controlling the southern Iraqi city of Basra, The Times of Britain reported Saturday, December 8.

"Whoever disobeys will be punished. God is our witness that we have conveyed this message," reads one of the many graffiti scrawled across walls and electricity pylons in the second largest Iraqi city.

A huge advert for mobile phones, featuring a mother and child, has been defaced to blot out the uncovered woman's head with the slogan "No, no, to unveiled women" sprayed below...

On her first day at Basra University this year a man dressed in the Shiite militia black uniform came up to Zeena, a 21-year-old Christian woman, and three other Christian girls and ordered them to cover their heads with a hijab...

Zeena tried in vain to explain to him that in Christianity women are not religiously obliged to wear hijab.

"He said: 'Outside this university you are Christian and can do what you want; inside you are not. Next time I want to see you wearing a hijab or I swear to God the three of you will be killed immediately'," Zeena recalled. Terrified.

Terrified, Zeena and her Christian colleagues now wear hijab.

According to Basra police chief. Major-General Abdul-Jalil Khalaf, more than 40 unveiled women have been murdered and their bodies dumped in the street by Shiite militiamen in the past five months.

Some of the women had been gruesomely gunned down with their children.

[ohio2007]

46. four days...Maliki is still standing in Basra... so much for following mookies orders

guess that leaves mookie no choice but to go after his family and blow up his wife and kids,cousins and all the al Malikis that come after mookie in a customary tribal revenge sort of way.