Posted on 04/07/2008 6:42:53 AM PDT by jveritas
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will consult senior religious leaders and disband his Mehdi Army militia if they instruct him to, a senior aide said on Monday.
The surprise announcement was the first time Sadr has proposed dissolving the Mehdi Army, one of the principle actors in Iraq's five-year-old conflict and the main opponent of U.S. and Iraqi forces during a recent upsurge in fighting.
It came on the day Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in a television interview, ordered the Mehdi Army to disband or Sadr's followers would be excluded from Iraqi political life.
Senior aide Hassan Zargani said Sadr would seek rulings from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shi'ite cleric, as well as senior Shi'ite clergy based in Iran, on whether to dissolve the Mehdi Army, and would obey their order.
That effectively puts the militia's fate in the hands of the reclusive Sistani, 77, a cleric revered by all of Iraq's Shi'ite factions and whose edicts carry the force of Islamic law, but who almost never intervenes in politics.
"Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his offices in Najaf and Qom to form a delegation to visit Sistani in Najaf and (other leaders) in Qom to discuss disbanding the Mehdi Army," Zargani said.
"If they order the Mehdi Army to disband, Moqtada al-Sadr and the Sadr movement will obey the orders of the religious leaders," he told Reuters. Najaf in Iraq, where Sistani is based, and Qom in Iran are the main seats of Shi'ite authority.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said he could not comment on the statement by Sadr's aide. Sistani's spokesman, Hamed al-Khafaf, declined to comment.
Frankie Pantangele said it best...
Ping.
A CYA plot......
Interesting that he admits he has to get Iranian approval to disband
This just can't be.............
Bush’s fault.
Yes, I know the character. No, I don’t remember what he said. Please to enlighten.
Nice timing coming a day before Petraeus and Crocker appear on Capitol Hill.
I'm not a Shia expert, but I heard that Sistani and other higher up clerics don't like Sadr and would like him gone too....
One must look at it from the mind of the clerics (partially):
- A true jihad cannot be defeated.
- They are losing (at least this part)
- If so, is not a true Jihad.
- There is not reason they cannot stop
- Stop.
excuse me while i puke from laughing so much....i bet clinton is having an oh sh1t moment...
this is excellent news
Checkmate.
The Iranians are playing a dangerous game. They need to keep us tied down in Iraq but if they over engage then we can simply bomb their military into dust. But, in keeping us there we prevent them from taking over the government.
What to do?????
the interesting thing here,and not really a suprise,but by taking this action hes implicitly stating the secular goverment has no authority over him,no matter how many of his bozos are killed off.
How can this be? The MSM has been telling us for a week how Maliki and the ISF got beaten by Sadr and the Mahdi Army.
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