Posted on 09/01/2004 10:34:41 AM PDT by forty_years
So where is Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army now? After taking serious losses against American and Iraqi forces and cynically hiding behind Shiite Islam’s most holy shrine in Najaf, these cowards have melted back into Iraqi society. Or have they? There are many questions to be answered regarding al-Sadr’s future, as he most certainly will oppose the growth of democracy in Iraq.
Will al-Sadr and his thugs be held accountable for the violent crimes they committed in Najaf? During their reign of terror, they apparently held a kangaroo court. After Iraq’s top Shiite, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, pressured al-Sadr to give up control of the Imam Ali shrine, Iraqi police who took control of the town made a horrid discovery, according to the BBC:
At least 10 "charred and bloated" bodies have been found at a court run by Najaf revolt leader Moqtada Sadr.
The deputy police chief in Najaf said his officers had discovered a building containing the remains of people "convicted" by the court.
A correspondent for the Associated Press news agency said he saw about 10 charred and bloated bodies in the court building, including one of an elderly woman.
As far as I know, there is no investigation into this incident. Will there be justice for the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers killed by the Mehdi Army? Al-Sadr and his men are free. Even though they agreed to give up their weapons, not all of them have. Again, the BBC,
Dozens of militants were seen piling their weapons on to carts [in Najaf].
However, a reporter for the AFP news agency said some fighters were carrying Kalashnikovs home in plastic bags and heavier weapons wrapped in canvas were being hidden in private houses in the old city.
Will Muqtada really “field candidates in Iraq's first elections and campaign on a platform calling for the withdrawal of U.S. forces after moving away from violent opposition to their presence,” as Reuters reports? After literally getting away with murder, I wonder. Al-Sadr has already shown a deceptive penchant for trying to drag a crisis out indefinitely. His political maneuvers are targeted at the American public and Iraq’s true democrats -- not just aimed at poor Shiites. Al-Sadr wants to wear down the resolve of good-hearted Americans and Iraqis. He shares Osama bin Laden’s disdain for western democracy, seeing it as weak and degenerate. Al-Sadr hopes to hang around until the Americans leave and then turn Iraq into a Muslim caliphate.
Will the interim Iraqi government recover from its humiliation? It failed to storm the Imam Ali mosque after promising to do so. Storming the mosque would’ve been costly short-term, but long-term it would have left no doubt as to who is in charge of Iraq. Many Iraqis had earlier voiced public condemnation of al-Sadr’s occupation of the shrine. On May 11, about 1,000 moderate Shiite Muslims protested against al-Sadr in Najaf. On May 21, over 2,000 Iraqis held a demonstration in the city of Karbala insisting that al-Sadr and his militiamen vacate the Imam Ali mosque. Najaf's new governor and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) both called for al-Sadr to get out of town. But Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi blinked. He talked tough and then backed off. Iraq’s terrorists will most surely see this as a sign of weakness.
Al-Sadr and his gang of thugs wouldn’t have stood a chance against U.S./Iraqi forces if they weren’t hiding in the Imam Ali shrine. What cowards they are. They new damn well that the U.S. wouldn’t storm the mosque. The potential for political repercussions was just too high in a country which is at least 60% Shiite. When the great Mehdi Army ventured outside the protection of the shrine, U.S./Iraqi forces killed about 300 of their 1,000-strong “militia.” Too bad, Iraqi forces could have gotten away politically with raiding the mosque and killing al-Sadr and his men.
Only time will tell what al-Sadr and the Mehdi Army will do in the future. Maybe Ayatollah Ali Sistani talked some sense into Muqtada -- even threatened him. The fact remains that al-Sadr was rewarded for his violent uprising. The interim Iraqi government showed weakness in a land which historically only responds to strength.
And these are the people that complain about panties on the head...
Only Ted Kennedy can appreciate their thinking...
He'll be back. He should have been taken out last year when he was building his following instead of allowing him to murder innocent civilians and our troops.
He's having some dental work done.
I'm assuming he's at his first cabinet meeting. Least he shows up, ulike Kerri.
Maybe he was the imam who gave the chant to allah Monday night at the RNC?
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