Iraqi Shi'ite radical leader Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a sermon to worshippers during the weekly Friday noon
prayers at the Kufa mosque near Najaf, 160 km (100
miles) south of Baghdad May 26, 2006. (Ali Abu Shish/Reuters)
Posted on 04/19/2008 3:42:06 PM PDT by Red Steel
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday threatened an "open war" against the Iraqi government unless it halted a crackdown by Iraqi and U.S. security forces on his followers.
The specter of a full-scale uprising by Sadr sharply raises the stakes in his confrontation with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has threatened to ban the anti-American cleric's movement from political life unless he disbands his militia.
A rebellion by Sadr's Mehdi Army militia -- which has tens of thousands of fighters -- could abruptly end a period of lower violence at a time when U.S. forces are starting to leave Iraq.
"I'm giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government -- either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace ... or it will be (seen as) the same as the previous government," Sadr said, referring to Saddam Hussein's fallen regime, without elaborating.
"If they don't come to their senses and curb the infiltrated militias, then we will declare an open war until liberation."
Sadr's movement accuses other Shi'ite parties of getting their militias into the Iraqi security forces, especially in southern Shi'ite Iraq where various factions are competing for influence in a region home to most of Iraq's oil output.
Sadr launched two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004.
His movement then entered politics and backed Maliki's rise to power in 2006. But the youthful Sadr split with Maliki, a fellow Shi'ite, a year ago when the prime minister refused to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
"Do you want a third uprising?" Sadr said, adding that he wanted Iraq's Shi'ite clerical establishment to set a date for the departure of American troops.
In Sadr's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City, one Mehdi Army commander said he was "thrilled" about the statement.
"We will wait until tomorrow to see the response of the government. Otherwise they will see black days like they have never seen before i
Sadr's threat could not come at a worse time. On Friday, U.S. forces said they had intelligence suggesting Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, pushed out of Baghdad and western Iraq last year, was plotting a return to the capital to stage major bomb attacks.
ROCKETS HIT HOSPITAL
In Baghdad, police described battles between security forces and gunmen that began on Friday in Sadr City as among the heaviest in the capital since Maliki launched a crackdown on the Mehdi Army in the southern city of Basra late last month.
Police said 12 people had been killed in the Shi'ite slum. Hospitals said they received more than 130 wounded overnight.
Late on Saturday, Ali Bustan, head of the health directorate in the eastern section of Baghdad, said three rockets hit the Sadr Hospital in the slum. It was unclear if there were any casualties. The U.S. military said it was not to blame.
Bustan said the bodies of three women had been brought in along with 40 wounded people following fresh clashes.
Maliki has threatened to ban Sadr's movement from provincial elections this year if the cleric does not disband his militia.
In response, Sadr has threatened to formally scrap a ceasefire he imposed on the Mehdi Army last August, which has already been hanging by a thread given recent clashes.
In his statement, Sadr did not refer to the truce, but his spokesman in the holy city of Najaf, Salah al-Ubaidi, said the cleric was not bluffing.
"We mean every word," Ubaidi told Reuters.
Sadr issued his warning after Iraqi soldiers swooped on the Mehdi Army's stronghold in Basra. Iraqi officials said they now controlled the bastion, known as the Hayaniya district.
The dawn raid by government troops there was backed by a thunderous bombardment by U.S. warplanes and British artillery.
Maliki's initial crackdown on the militia in Basra last month was criticized by U.S. commanders as poorly planned.
It failed to drive the Mehdi Army from the streets and sparked battles across the south and in Sadr City, the cleric's Baghdad stronghold. The government dismissed 1,300 soldiers and police for refusing to fight in Basra, the port for most of Iraq's oil exports.
On Saturday by contrast, Harith al-Idhari, head of the Sadr office in Basra, said the militia had not put up any resistance, in observance of a ceasefire declared by the cleric.
Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an interior ministry spokesman, described the Basra operation as a major success.
(Additional reporting by Peter Graff, Khaled Farhan, Noah Barkin and Aws Qusay in Baghdad; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Iraqi Shi'ite radical leader Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a Enough with politics!
Drag his fat behind into the street and give him an old fashioned public fanny whipping.
He will cry like a little girl.
I'm trying to see why this might be bad news...I really am...
For a while no threads on this, then a bunch. The war will be short if it starts at all. Maybe Iran will come in overtly. That might be a plus, but not for Japan or China.
Some people just need killing.
It would be better to drag him out into the street and give him two in the back of the head.
This pr**k should have bee “taken out” years ago when his thugs tortured and killed, then mutilated and burned th corpses of four U.S. soldiers or Marines. Why hasn’t Bush given the word to take him out?
If they conduct “Open war”, and he directs it from Iran...then a JDAM, that’s “Just Damn” for the Jihadist leadeers, should have his name written all over it and land on his head in iran soonest.
I’m a little bit tired with President Bush. With John McCain as our next President, hopefully he has what it takes to finish the job in Iraq.
Proly because Bush has more to gain by letting this piece of feces live than die. Bush doesn’t want to offend his good buddies, the Saudis.
You said it, brother. Kill this punk and every damn one of his dirt eating followers. Violence and death are the only thing they understand and the only thing they live for.
We should give him the war he’s threatening, starting with the carpet bombing of Sadr City and a bullet through his fat head.
“Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday threatened an “open war” against the Iraqi government unless it halted a crackdown by Iraqi and U.S. security forces on his followers.”
You got it Mookie. The first bullet has your name on it. This pig needs to be greased post haste. Should have been done Years ago.
Sadr is much over hyped in reality (as he hides in Iran) - Outside of that, you seemingly don't understand COIN -
We continue to be successful in Iraq - We continue to be successful in this GWOT - Changing the world and pulling the ME out of the dark ages is going to be a 2 steps forward, 1 step backward process......Full stop. You either cowboy the hell up and understand this.....or we lose.
And hiding behind the foolish empty rhetoric that "politics" are the reasons why XY & Z are not being done or carried out.....is BS, repeated oftenly by those who don't have a clue when it comes to COIN (which is where Iraq is at this time).
The times and places of OUR choosing.....And for the most part we have kept this GWOT in this realm since late 01...
There has always been valid reasons for having Iraqi forces be the ones to eventually knock out Mehdi and JAM forces...
How will that be possible there have been many posts here saying he was finished. So don’t worry about it. “Sac off”
Amen brother.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.