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From on the ground in Najaf, Eye Raki reports Mookie has returned to home in Najaf. Also, he has lost a lot of weight. Perhaps the Britney Spears diet?: "I was introduced by a mutual friend to an officer in the Ministry of Interior who confirmed the reports. I wanted to go to look out for any unusual activity around his house but the street leading to his home was blocked off by IP's who wouldn't give us a straight answer as to why we are not allowed through...Could this be a turn around in Iranian foreign policy and possibly...

This is barely being reported on the MSM and yet it’s developing into a major clash. The recent Arab summit in Damascus was a flop and left Syria with a lot of anger and embarrassment. The Israelis have openly admitted to bombing that mystery installation in Syria for being a nuclear bomb assembly factory set up by the North Koreans. This ruination of their plans has naturally outraged the Syrians. At the same time, many Arab states are exasperated with Syria for their continued support of Hizbollah in Lebanon and their efforts to control that country. The other Arab states...

Iraq's top Shiite religious leaders have told anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr not to disband his Mehdi Army, an al-Sadr spokesman said Monday amid fresh fighting in the militia's Baghdad strongholds. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded Sunday that the cleric disband his militia, which waged two uprisings against U.S. troops in 2004, or see his supporters barred from public office. But al-Sadr spokesman Salah al-Obeidi said al-Sadr has consulted with Iraq's Shiite clerical leadership "and they refused that." He did not provide details of the talks. The Mehdi Army has borne the brunt of an Iraqi government crackdown on what...

BAGHDAD (AP) — Aides to Muqtada al-Sadr called Monday for dialogue to resolve a violent standoff with the Iraqi government, saying that the radical Shiite cleric would disband his militia if senior religious leaders ordered it. The overture came as Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City faced continued clashes between al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia fighters and Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces. Also Monday, a U.S. soldier was killed by small-arms fire after a roadside bombing in Baghdad, the military said, pushing the two-day American death toll to at least eight. The attack occurred in an eastern section of...

(Evil genius Muqty "Mookie" Al-Sadr controls Iraq's future with the power of his mind.) The title of this post is taken from a Stephen Cobert riff on something Rudy Guliani said of Mitt Romney (the then-perceived leader in the Republican presidential race) after having failed to place in the first three successive Republican primaries: "I think I’ve lulled him into a false sense of security.” Yesterday, (Iraqi blogger) MHZ posted about going to hear American reporter Dahr Jamail talk about Iraq. At his book-signing, MHZ took Jamail to task for (as he saw it) boosting for Sadr. Besides calling for...

Iraq's major Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties have closed ranks to force anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to disband his Mahdi Army militia or leave politics, lawmakers and officials involved in the effort said Sunday. Such a bold move risks a violent backlash by al-Sadr's Shiite militia. But if it succeeds it could cause a major realignment of Iraq's political landscape. The first step will be adding language to a draft election bill banning parties that operate militias from fielding candidates in provincial balloting this fall, the officials and lawmakers said. The government intends to send the draft to parliament within...

MORE ISLAMIC THAN IRAGI, HE SAYS Al-Sadr emphasizes the religious character of his movement. Of course, Western analysts will continue to dismiss him as a Misunderstander of Islam.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, returning from the southern city of Basra, claimed Tuesday that a week-old operation against Shiite militias has been a "success" despite a cease-fire that did not disarm the gunmen and left him politically battered. The Shiite leader stopped short of declaring an end to the offensive that began a week ago Tuesday in Basra, sparking retaliatory clashes in Baghdad and other southern cities, and criticism that his government was unprepared for the fierce backlash. Militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, meanwhile, thanked his fighters for "defending your people, your land and your honor." Sporadic fighting...

About three days ago, when the clash between the Iraqi Army and the Madhi army was in its fourth day, I asked a senior officer returned from Iraq after his presentation whether Maliki would go all the way against Sadr. He said he didn't know, but added that militias were a problem that had to be eventually addressed. Another questioner asked about the quality of the Iraqi Armed forces, and on this point the answer was more definite. The quality was uneven. Many parts of it were rudimentary; some parts of it were extraordinarily good.But the subject of the talk...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Iraqi government has welcomed an order by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to pull his fighters off the streets. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told FOX News that the decision is "positive and responsive." Al-Dabbagh said the move would "help the government confront those who are violating the law" and that it would help to "isolate those who are trying to destroy the government effort". He said Iraqi security operations in Basra would not end until the "criminal elements" operating there are removed. Also praising al-Sadr's orders was Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who said it was "a...

Iraqi Special Forces, advised by Coalition troops, take on the Madhi Army in Sadr City. This is the one of the most intense firefights ever caught on film, and it explains why al Sadr has already begged for a truce. The overweight and/or underage dopes of the Madhi Army are no match for the increasingly lethal Iraqi forces. Prime Minister Maliki has the upper hand now. Listen for the GAU minigun ripping away at 50 rounds per second.

NAJAF, Iraq, March 30 (Reuters) - Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will not hand over their weapons as part of a move to end a week of fighting in Iraq, a top Sadr aide said. The aide, Hazem al-Araji, also said that Sadr's followers had received a guarantee from the government that it would end "random arrests" of Sadr followers. "The weapons of the resistance will not be delivered to the Iraqi government," he told journalists at Sadr's office in the holy city of Najaf after distributing a statement from Sadr calling on followers to stop fighting. Sadr's statement...

Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - In a surprise move Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr on Sunday ordered his fighters off the streets of Basra and other cities in Iraq. Sadr said in a statement that his movement wanted the Iraqi people to stop the bloodshed and for Iraq to maintain its independence and stability. He had previously defied the Iraqi government's deadline to turn weapons in for cash. According to reports, it is unclear if all of Sadr's followers will comply with his order. According to reports, the United States has used ground troops in Basra.

BREAKING NEWS: Al-Sadr calls for an end to Shiite revolt in south Iraq. More soon ...

Muqtada al-Sadr apparently has had enough; he's offered a "truce" if the Iraqi government will stop attacking his men. I'm not close enough to the situation to know whether it would be better to accept the truce or continue disabling Sadr's militia, but the proposal seems like a clear indication that things haven't gone as Sadr intended. This episode might prove to be, as President Bush suggested, a defining moment in Iraq's post-war history. The main knock on Maliki's government has been that it is a Shia instrument that has sometimes been infiltrated by radical Shia elements. Sunnis have often...

With the fifth day of fighting in Baghdad, Basrah and the South completed, the Mahdi Army has suffered major losses over the past 36 hours. The Mahdi Army has not faired well over the past five days of fighting, losing an estimated two percent of its combat power, using the best case estimate for the size of the militia. A look at the open source press reports from the US and Iraqi military and the established newspapers indicates 134 Mahdi Army fighters were killed, 81 were wounded, 98 were captured, and 30 surrendered during the past 36 hours. Since the...

.."Sadr said that the task of the army in the future [is] to be soldiers of the [expected] Mahdi."

BAGHDAD (AP) — A feisty Muqtada al-Sadr, making his first public appearance since May, said in a TV interview aired Saturday that he was in almost total control of the Mahdi Army and that the "liberation" of Iraq was his militia's chief goal. snip Al-Sadr is widely thought to be spending his time between Iran's holy city of Qom and Najaf, another holy Shiite city south of Baghdad. But nothing in the room where the interview took place offered a hint of his location. snip In the interview, al-Sadr said the militia's "strategic objective" was "the liberation of Iraq from...

BAGHDAD - Anti-American Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers Saturday to defy government orders to surrender their weapons, as U.S. jets struck Shiite extremists near Basra to bolster a faltering Iraqi offensive against gunmen in the city. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash that his offensive, which began Tuesday, provoked in areas of Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power. Government television said the round-the-clock curfew imposed two days ago on the capital and due to expire Sunday would be extended indefinitely. The U.S. Embassy tightened...

BAGHDAD, March 28 -- The gunfire struck like thunderclaps, building to a steady rhythm. American soldiers in a Stryker armored vehicle fired away from one end of the block. At the other end, two groups of Shiite militiamen pounded back with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. American helicopters circled above in the blue afternoon sky. As a heavy barrage erupted outside his parents' house, Abu Mustafa al-Thahabi, a political and military adviser to the Mahdi Army of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, rushed through the purple gate and took shelter behind the thick walls. He had just spoken with a...