Looks like the folks who thought Moqtada al-Sadr was a dead man walking 5 years ago were wrong

[NNN0LHI]

http://in.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20100719&t=2&i=158420730&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=img-2010-07-19T225037Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_India-502435-1

Allawi seeks Sadr's support to become Iraqi PM

Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:50pm IST

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Pro-Western Iraqi politician Iyad Allawi sought support on Monday to form a government from Iranian-backed cleric Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr, in the first meeting between the once bitter rivals.

Sadr, an anti-U.S. figure who has emerged as a kingmaker in Iraqi politics, did not endorse Allawi but said Allawi had shown more willingness to compromise than Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki, who is trying to cling to power after an inconclusive election in March.

Sadr and Allawi met at a hotel in the Syrian capital after they had separately been received by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They later met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who was on a brief visit to Syria.

Iraq has been gripped by violence and political intrigue since the election, which failed to produce an outright winner. A bloc supported by Sunni politicians and headed by Allawi narrowly won the most seats.

Allawi was Iraq's prime minister in 2004 when U.S. forces surrounded Sadr and his followers at the Imam Ali shrine in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf before Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, an Iranian-born cleric, intervened and ensured Sadr safe passage, avoiding a bloodbath inside the grand mosque.


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We are going to give Iraq back to the first guy holding an AK-47 just like I said we should have 5 years ago.

[provis99]

1. we should have made a deal with al-Sadr right from the beginning.

Then he'd be an extremist, but he'd be OUR extremist.

[msongs]

2. Sadaam was Goerge HW Bush's best friend for many years lol nt

[The Magistrate]

3. It Is A Young Man's World, My Friend

[EFerrari]

4. Do you remember when Rumsfeld shut down that newspaper in Sadr City?

It was the biggest one and iirc, some part of this guy's organization printed it. That was when Sadr City turned ugly, the whole vibe changed. Here it is:

Anti-US cleric's newspaper banned

By Alissa Rubin
Baghdad
March 30, 2004

Iraqis holding a poster of Sheikh Muqtader al-Sadr protest in Baghdad at the closure of the newspaper he sponsored.

The US-led coalition in Iraq has closed a newspaper sponsored by a popular anti-American Shiite cleric, accusing it of creating unrest and inciting violence against occupation forces.

Within hours of the closure, hundreds of followers of the cleric, Sheikh Muqtader al-Sadr, poured into the streets near the newspaper's offices in central Baghdad and into a slum area known as Sadr City in honour of the cleric's assassinated father.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/29/1080544420954.html

[SpiralHawk]

5. Yet another Chickenhawk Republicon FAIL

The only thing to come out of the lie-based Republicon Oil Profits Crusade are oil & munitions & mercenary profits for Republicon FatCat Cronies.

Ptoooey on all that.

[PufPuf23]

6. One wonders who is backing Allawi now?

Rumors were that he was a CIA asset and he once retained Barbour Griffith Rogers to get him back in the driver's seat in Iraq. Besides rating a chapter in Kerry's BCCI Report, Ed Rogers is a guy that is hard to research.

Allawi Uses Loophole to Keep Backers Secret

By Spencer Ackerman - September 5, 2007, 6:03PM

It's official: Ayad Allawi is no longer represented by Barbour Griffith & Rogers, the White House-connected lobbying firm he retained to sell the U.S. government on his "parliamentary coup" to become Iraq's next prime minister. Well, sort of.

Allawi doesn't want to disclose who's paying BGR's $300,000 fee. But since Allawi admitted on CNN that he's not paying the bill himself, BGR has to either disclose to the Justice Department which "agent of a foreign principal" it receives money from or violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Disclosure, however, is for amateurs.

Yesterday, BGR took an anticipated third option: changing its filing with DoJ so that BGR no longer represents Allawi, but rather his political party, the Iraqi National Accord. Christina Davidson reports for IraqSlogger (sub. req.) that since political parties aren't required to disclose their sources of funding under FARA, "BGR has managed to pull an easy sidestep in order to maintain the anonymity of Allawi's backer."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/cats/iraq/ayad_allawi/

[xchrom]

7. Smells like irony and oil. Nt

[Recursion]

8. I love that the US media refuses to correctly spell his name, "as-Sadr" NT

[malaise]

9. But but but

The surge worked - Bushco said so. :puke:

[SoCalDem]

10. I always thought he would be the new Saddam

He's the perfect "candidate" and just the kind of leader they seem to want:(

SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Jul-21-08 09:11 PM
Original message

Meet Iraq's future president.


سيد مقتدى ...



Hojatoleslam Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr


Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr or Moktada al Sadr (سيد مقتدى الصدر Muqtadā aṣ-Ṣadr)

(born August 12, 1973) is an Iraqi theologian, political leader and militia commander.

Along with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Sadr is one of the most influential religious and political figures in the country not holding any official title in the Iraqi government.

Muqtada al-Sadr 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.

Muqtada al-Sadr is of Lebanese ancestry. His great-grandfather is Ismail as-Sadr. Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, Muqtada al-Sadr's father, was a well-respected figure throughout the Shi'a Islamic world.

He was murdered, along with two of his sons, allegedly by the government of Saddam Hussein. Some do believe it was an inside job ordered in February 1999 from Najaf, the stronghold of the al-Sadr clan. Muqtada's father-in-law was executed by the Iraqi authorities in 1980. Muqtada is a cousin of the absented Imam Moussa as-Sadr, the Iranian-Lebanese founder of the popular Amal Movement

snip....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqtada_al-Sadr

........................................................

Anyone who thinks that al Maliki or anyone even remotely LIKE him, will end up running the show, is dreaming..


al Sadr's army has been on vacation, since the surge started. Why would he want to waste his resources and men during a beefing-up of American military?

Middle easterners measure time by the thousands' of years, they are patient, and they never forget an affront.

They are keeping score, and patiently going through the motions, because they know sooner or later we WILL leave, and once we are downsized or gone, al Sadr will step up and claim Iraq for his own...

The people will support him, and the ones who don't will be "dealt with"..

We are currently tidying up the Green Zone for his eventual occupation, and he knows it.. If you planned to steal a classic car, it would be smart to wait until it's completely restored, before you steal it :)