Militia Leaves Najaf Police Stations

1 posted on 04/12/2004 9:07:36 AM PDT by kattracks

I'd do a real thorough check of those buildings before I moved back in for good.

2 posted on 04/12/2004 9:10:30 AM PDT by avg_freeper (Gunga galunga. Gunga, gunga galunga)

"A radical Shiite cleric... "

More like, "A petrified, suddenly reasonable Shiite cleric..."

Except that they are never reasonable.

3 posted on 04/12/2004 9:13:29 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough (Bush '04 --- in a F'n landslide.)

Sadr's gotten orders from Iran.............

4 posted on 04/12/2004 9:13:50 AM PDT by nuconvert ("America will never be intimidated by thugs and assassins." ( President Bush 3-20-04))

5 posted on 04/12/2004 9:22:26 AM PDT by sarasota

Agreed......I wonder if they realize now .....they moved to soon.......they should have waited until the week before the handover and done this.

6 posted on 04/12/2004 9:23:11 AM PDT by Dog

FoxNews reporting (unconfirmed) that al-Sadr has ordered his troops to pull out of the govt buildings and police stations.

7 posted on 04/12/2004 9:24:49 AM PDT by TomGuy (Clintonites have such good hind-sight because they had their heads up their hind-ends 8 years.)

"Sadr's gotten orders from Iran"

He sure did! Something like... You stupid idiot! Now the whole world knows we have been giving you money, and for what? Your own Shia brothers even thought you were nuts! Our own Iranian soldiers have been killed or captured. YOU said that wouldn't happen!

Whooops!

8 posted on 04/12/2004 9:29:31 AM PDT by BillyCrockett

I do think the move was too soon from their perspective. I also think our guys saw something of what was coming and made some of the moves that precipitated it now rather than later. It was our move to shut down the paper and then to arrest that Yaqoubi guy. Sadr then HAD to move. We announced the long standing warrant for his arrest in conjuction with the murder of Khoei.

In other words, I think we had some input into the timing of this.

9 posted on 04/12/2004 9:33:55 AM PDT by Cap Huff

He had to make his move or he was going to get arrested. I have heard one report that said Bremer and Wolfowitz wanted to arrest him back in October but others thought it would be better to hold off. Now that Sadr has made his move though, I hope to hell we are going to pick him up and not let him slink off to Iran where he can engage in more mischief. BTW, one of the charges against him, aside from giving the order to kill Khoei is that he gave orders to shoot a pregnant woman that resulted in her death. I'd like to see him tried on that charge so that everyone can see what a little slug he is.

10 posted on 04/12/2004 9:55:44 AM PDT by vbmoneyspender

To: kattracks; All

Fox News reported that this has not been confirmed yet. This is coming from AP and a Sadr spokesman.

Militia Pulls Back in Three Iraqi Cities

By ABDUL HUSSEIN YOUSEF, Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq - A radical Shiite cleric has pulled his militiamen out of police stations and government facilities in three cities they took control of this week, partially meeting a U.S. demand for ending the standoff in southern Iraq, the cleric's representative said Monday.

Police on Monday were back on the streets and in their stations in Najaf, Kufa and Karbala for the first time in days since the al-Mahdi Army militia of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took control of the facilities last week, witnesses said.

Few of the black-garbed gunmen of al-Mahdi Army were seen in Najaf's streets, except around its holy shrines in the center of the city. Militiamen also stayed out of sight in nearby Kufa, and their numbers were lower around their main stronghold in the city, its main mosque.

The U.S. military has vowed to capture al-Sadr, last thought to be in his office in the center of Najaf, a sensitive district near Shiite Islam's holiest shrine that U.S.-led coalition forces do not enter under an agreement with Shiite leaders in the city.

"The mission of U.S. forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr. That is our mission," Sanchez said. He added that the military did not know where al-Sadr was.

U.S. forces are present near Najaf, say witnesses, who reported seeing U.S. soldiers patrolling the outskirts of the city in past days.

Iraqi Shiite political parties have been holding negotiations with al-Sadr representatives to try to find a peaceful way to end the standoff.

"Al-Sayed al-Sadr issued instructions for his followers to leave the sites of police and the government," said lawyer Murtada al-Janabi, one of al-Sadr's representatives in the talks.

Over the weekend, a negotiator from the Shiite Islamic Dawa Party presented al-Sadr's side with a letter of conditions from the Americans for ending the crisis.

The demands included the dissolution of the al-Mahdi Army, withdraw from all government facilities and respect for law, according to the Dawa representative, Hameed al-Maliki.

Al-Janabi said al-Sadr's supporters reject the demand that the militia dissolve. Al-Janabi called the demand "ridiculous. Dissolving the al-Mahdi Army would be very difficult."

The surrender of al-Sadr was not among the U.S. conditions mentioned by al-Maliki.

Al-Sadr's militia launched a bloody uprising on April 4, attacking U.S. and coalition troops in Baghdad and cities across the south.

11 posted on 04/12/2004 9:57:06 AM PDT by TexKat (Just because you did not see it or read it, that does not mean it did or did not happen.)

indeed, and it makes me wonder what might be going on behind the scenes to have made this occur, unless its some kind of head fake.

12 posted on 04/12/2004 9:59:09 AM PDT by oceanview

"I'd do a real thorough check of those buildings before I moved back in for good."

Just level them and rebuild something better

13 posted on 04/12/2004 10:00:36 AM PDT by The Louiswu (I am a - 40-something White, Republican and proud of it!)

I think Sadr is going to be let off the hook, perhaps a vacation in Iran for a while, in return for standing down his militia. obviously, if we really wanted to kill him, we could have done so already. but sending columns of tanks into Najaf to get him is going to do more harm then good. if there is some way to ease him out of the picture, I'll take it.

14 posted on 04/12/2004 10:01:51 AM PDT by oceanview

Just level them and rebuild something better

Good idea. The existing ones obviously aren't too secure, if these clowns could waltz right in and take them over.

15 posted on 04/12/2004 10:02:51 AM PDT by wingnutx (Are you a monthly donor? Why not? (the freeper formerly known as Britton J Wingnutx))

"I'd do a real thorough check of those buildings before I moved back in for good."

Just level them and rebuild something better.

BUMP

16 posted on 04/12/2004 10:07:01 AM PDT by eyespysomething (To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target)

"Al-Sayed al-Sadr issued instructions for his [13] followers to leave the sites of police and the government,"

Good news. This rabble rouser should have been apprehended a long time ago.

17 posted on 04/12/2004 10:10:47 AM PDT by george wythe

To: george wythe

Not apprehended, KILLED. He could still issue fatwas and such from a jail cell.

18 posted on 04/12/2004 10:19:18 AM PDT by wingnutx (Are you a monthly donor? Why not? (the freeper formerly known as Britton J Wingnutx))

>>they moved to soon.......they should have waited until the week before the handover

BUMP. They may have screwed up but I think they wanted to take advantage of Fallujah, too.

19 posted on 04/12/2004 10:27:10 AM PDT by swarthyguy

I think Sadr is going to be let off the hook

I saw and heard Abizaid a couple of hours ago state that sadr will be captured or killed. I guess we will read what the outcome was sooner or later.

Who knows sadr may already be in Iran. He may have left dressed as a woman with the exiting pilgrims.

20 posted on 04/12/2004 10:29:27 AM PDT by TexKat (Just because you did not see it or read it, that does not mean it did or did not happen.)

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