Maliki says Sadrist foes "worse than al Qaeda"

[Barrett808]

Source: Reuters

Maliki says Sadrist foes "worse than al Qaeda"
By Peter Graff

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki raised the stakes in his five-day-old crackdown on Shi'ite militants on Saturday, describing his foes as "worse than al Qaeda."

The death toll rose as fighting raged in Basra and Baghdad, where U.S. forces have been drawn deeper into a confrontation that started as an Iraqi initiative.

U.S. forces said they had killed 48 militants in air strikes and gun battles across the capital the previous day.

At least 133 bodies and 647 wounded have been brought to five hospitals in the eastern half of Baghdad over five days of clashes, the head of the health directorate for eastern Baghdad, Ali Bustan, said.

In Basra, government troops say they have killed 120 fighters. Scores of people have been reported killed in other towns across the south where fighting has spread.

"We used to talk about al Qaeda. Unfortunately it seems there are some among us who are worse than al Qaeda," Maliki said in a televised meeting with tribal leaders in Basra, where he has personally overseen the crackdown since Tuesday.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080329/wl_nm/iraq_dc

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Oh boy

...

[saigon68]

19. "Puppet Boy" Maliki gives news conference for US Masters

I guess when you are a puppet you perform when your handlers tug on the strings

Hell ----Bremer (remember him?) tried to kill Sadr years ago and failed.

The next puppet will be a more friendly Chalabi

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Imagine that. Worse than. Impossible, didn't he get the memo

from G ulf W arz B ushes??

[NewJeffCT]

8. well, next week, it will be back to Al Qaeda as the worst, and then

maybe Hezbollah or Hamas, if needed. Then, back to Sadr, then Al Qaeda. Then maybe Chavez in Venezuela, then back to Sadr or Al Qaeda, & so on.

Sort of like how the epi-center for liberal decadence is New York City, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Francisco or Austin, TX, depending on the audience.

[acmavm]

3. What he really means is that those uppity people who resent the occupation

and him running a puppet government beholden to the occupiers have a lot of nerve bitching about him selling out his country.

I bet he's sleeping with one eye open lately and keeping his passport up-to-date like I'm sure Mushy of Pakistan in doing.

[tabasco]

4. How this battle will probably end.

US bombs the place into oblivion.

Claims stunning success by Iraqi puppets.

The beat goes on.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

11. The #1 glass reserves in the world.

:nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[madrchsod]

5. civil/religious war

what more can one ask for....worse president ever

[old guy]

6. The surge must really work well.

In the reports I've seen, neither the US or the Maliki forces have any casualties. Has anyone seen any other reports saying different. I don't have cable so I may be behind on this.

[magellan]

7. I watched the corporate media this morning

They're reporting that dozens of militants have been killed. No report of US or Iraqi force injuries/casualties, or the effect of airstrikes on the civilian population.

The sanitized war. If only lack of reporting meant there was nothing to report.

[old guy]

9. Thanks. Just thought it was curious.

[wordpix]

12. lots of casualties - this one says 120 enemy killed, 450 wounded in Basra, & then there's the Green

Zone shelling.

http://www.itv.com/News/Articles/Basra-fighting-kills-120-militants.html

Also:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/29/iraq.main/

Iraqi officials said 75 people had been killed and almost 500 wounded in clashes between security forces and insurgents in the Baghdad Shiite stronghold of Sadr City.


:shrug: CNN story doesn't distinguish between "enemy" and "government forces."

[SpikeTss]

10. Quite a funny statement

Considering that only a small minority of Iraqis support Maliki and a considerable fraction of the Iraqis endorse al-Sadr.
Maliki is a puppet and he will face the same fate as any regime that has no support from the population of his country.

http://www.alternet.org/story/80580/

One of the ironies of the reporting out of Iraq is the ubiquitous characterization of Muqtada al-Sadr as a "renegade," "radical" or "militant" cleric, despite the fact that he is the only leader of significance in the country who has ordered his followers to stand down. His ostensible militancy appears to arise primarily from his opposition to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

He has certainly been willing to use violence in the past, but the "firebrand" label belies the fact that Sadr is arguably the most popular leader among a large section of the Iraqi population and that he has forcefully rejected sectarian conflict and sought to bring together representatives of Iraq's various ethnic and sectarian groups in an effort to create real national reconciliation -- a process that the highly sectarian Maliki regime has failed to accomplish.

It's vitally important to understand that Sadr's popularity and legitimacy is a result of his having a platform that's favored by an overwhelming majority of Iraqis.

Most Iraqis:

* Favor a strong central government free of the influence of militias.
* Oppose, by a 2-1 margin, the privatization of Iraq's energy sector -- a "benchmark towards progress according to the Bush administration.
* Favor a U.S. withdrawal on a short timeline (PDF) (most believe the United States plans to build permanent bases -- both are issues about which the Sadrists have been vocal.
* Oppose al Qaeda and the ideology of Osama Bin Laden and, to a lesser degree, Iranian influence on Iraq's internal affairs.

With the exception of their opposition to Al Qaeda, the five major separatist parties -- Sunni, Shia and Kurdish -- that make up Maliki's governing coalition are on the deeply unpopular side of these issues. A poll conducted last year found that 65 percent of Iraqis think the Iraqi government is doing a poor job, and Maliki himself has a Bush-like 66 percent disapproval rate.

[Strelnikov_]

13. "he will face the same fate as any regime that has no support from the population of his country"

Thats also my feeling how this sub-plot will end.

[Faygo Kid]

14. Civil war? What civil war?

Our endless tax dollars and the dead and forever damaged thrown into this maelstrom that we triggered, and still no accountability, just the promise of another 100 years.

Fuck you, Bush. You too, Cheney, pundits, media, Rice, every neocon everywhere and, as a matter of fact, every supporter and enabler of this disaster since it first appeared in a Bill Kristol wet dream.

[HuffleClaw]

15. he's using the US to do his political dirty work

well, 'using' isn't the right word i guess, seems to me that cheney was over there for a reason and this was one of them

[NM Independent]

16. Well

Considering how small of a force Al Qaeda is in the region, of course they're a smaller problem. Of course, the Sadrists are worse because they are the ones pissed off at al-Maliki for being a puppet for Bush.

Idiots!!

[Thickasabrick]

17. Talk about biting the hand that feeds ya....geesh. Maliki is toast.

He wouldn't be in that position if it wasn't for Sadr. I guess there won't be anymore elections or purple thumbs for awhile.

[bluesmail]

18. going in circles again