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Anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr returns to Iraq after 3-year absence, Iraqi officials say
1310 News ^ | 1/5/2011 | Qassim Abdul-Zahra

Posted on 01/05/2011 7:14:21 AM PST by markomalley

Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led several Shiite uprisings against American forces in Iraq before travelling to neighbouring Iran at least three years ago, has returned to Iraq, officials said Wednesday.

Al-Sadr's return caps another dramatic rise to prominence for him and his followers after they were routed by Iraqi and U.S. forces and appeared to fade from power just a few years ago. The strong showing by his bloc in last year's parliamentary elections and his key support for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki paved the way for Wednesday's return.

It was not immediately clear how long al-Sadr would stay in Iraq or whether the return marked a permanent decision to remain in the country, where his presence would certainly mark a seismic shift in Iraqi politics.

A Sadrist official in Baghdad, Mohammed al-Kaabi, said al-Sadr was in the holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad at his family home and that he was on his way to visit the 36-year-old cleric.

An official with al-Maliki's office confirmed a plane carrying al-Sadr flew into the southern city earlier Wednesday afternoon. He did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.

(Excerpt) Read more at 1310news.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: alsadr; iraq; mookie

1 posted on 01/05/2011 7:14:23 AM PST by markomalley
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To: markomalley

A hit is needed!


2 posted on 01/05/2011 7:16:24 AM PST by WellyP
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To: Allegra

Just in case you wondered what that smell was.


3 posted on 01/05/2011 7:16:40 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim (Pablo lives jubtabulously!)
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To: markomalley

Mookie needs a bullet betwixt his beady little eyes.


4 posted on 01/05/2011 7:16:48 AM PST by Constitution Day
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To: markomalley

This murderer needs to be given a dirt nap ASAP.


5 posted on 01/05/2011 7:18:02 AM PST by thethirddegree
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To: WellyP

A hit? Haven’t you heard? He is a member of the heroic Iraqi democratic government under our great friend, Maliki. Your tax dollars at work. Happy now?


6 posted on 01/05/2011 7:18:16 AM PST by Captain Kirk (Q)
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To: markomalley

Why didn’t we kill this guy.


7 posted on 01/05/2011 7:20:20 AM PST by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: markomalley
expect more of the anti-American Iraqi who have been stashed away in Iran to return and get the pot boiling again as the Americans pull up stakes and leave.

We need to keep a strong presence there not too far from the border.

8 posted on 01/05/2011 7:22:17 AM PST by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda" and its allies.)
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To: markomalley
Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr

He changed his name? I thought he went by Radical Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Maybe he's trying to go incognito...

9 posted on 01/05/2011 7:24:15 AM PST by Jack of all Trades (Stop the change - I want to get off!)
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To: markomalley

Welcome home, Mookie. Now.. stand for a photo op.. right there... yes.. in the middle of that street...


10 posted on 01/05/2011 7:25:49 AM PST by ScottinVA (The West needs to act NOW to aggressively treat its metastasizing islaminoma!)
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To: pnh102

Why? He went away and hitting him would have caused more problems at the time than it was worth. Now, times have changed!


11 posted on 01/05/2011 7:32:45 AM PST by WellyP
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To: Constitution Day

Mookie needs another Saddam, but one that listens to us. Democracy in Iraq means Mookie and friends in power.


12 posted on 01/05/2011 7:56:16 AM PST by mewykwistmas
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To: pnh102

We´ve been to busy protecting Iraqi Christians?


13 posted on 01/05/2011 8:05:25 AM PST by onedoug
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To: thethirddegree

Think of how much perfectly good oxygen he’s been wasting. Let’s do it; for the planet!


14 posted on 01/05/2011 8:11:38 AM PST by pingman (Price is what you pay, value is what you get.)
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To: markomalley; welly
Many years overdue...


15 posted on 01/05/2011 8:16:30 AM PST by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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To: markomalley
Hey, Gibbs' spot is available...


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

16 posted on 01/05/2011 8:28:38 AM PST by The Comedian (Puzzling puzzle pieces precisely proliferating panoramically.)
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To: markomalley

The last 4-5 paragraphs of this article are significant.


17 posted on 01/05/2011 8:35:23 AM PST by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: Tijeras_Slim
Just in case you wondered what that smell was.

Yes, there have been other, even nastier signs, too. I put it at about two weeks ago.How I despise, loathe and detest that Sadr vermin.

Believe me, we can always tell when he's around. He makes his evil presence quite known.

18 posted on 01/05/2011 8:48:22 AM PST by Allegra (You're a towel.)
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To: TXnMA; markomalley; FARS; LucyT

Yep, Al Sadr will eventually kill Al Maliki and deliver Iraq to Iran. That was and is his goal.

You may remember, sometime ago around 2004-5, Al Sadr terrorists killed two of Ayatollah Al Sastani’s aids and fought us. We tried to capture Al Sadr but he escaped to Iran, back and forth.

It was the time that the IEDs started, just like the last couple of years in Afghanistan.

Al Sadr is no longer worried about us because of our coward in chief. If Iraq is run by Iraq, I wonder how we are going to drive away the Iranian and Shiite forces from Kuwaiti, Saudi and Jordanian borders.

We have 0b0z0 and no hundreds of thousands of troops for a renewed effort!


19 posted on 01/05/2011 9:22:59 AM PST by melancholy (It ain't Camelot, it's Scam-a-lot!)
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To: melancholy; markomalley; FARS; LucyT

One of the best ways to clean out a lot of the shiite in Iraq would be to whack the mucky, then cluster-bomb his funeral gathering...


20 posted on 01/05/2011 8:15:41 PM PST by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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