Muqtada al-Sadr says he will not enter any political process that would allow US forces to remain in Iraq.
Posted on 04/12/2008 2:19:11 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Muqtada al-Sadr says he will not enter any political process that would allow US forces to remain in Iraq.
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NAJAF, Iraq, April 12--Iraq's Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday lashed out at Robert Gates, saying the US defense secretary will always remain his enemy because he is the occupier of Iraq.
"You have always been my enemy. And you will always be my enemy till the last drop of my blood," Sadr said in a statement.
He was reacting to comments by Gates in which he reportedly said, referring to Sadr, that those who are prepared to work peacefully "within the political process in Iraq" are not the enemies of the United States.
"Which political process do you want to involve me in when you are occupying my land," Sadr asked.
"I heard the statement of the terrorist American defense minister and I feel compelled to give a decent response to such a terrorist. I have no enemy but you. You are the occupier."
Sadr said he will keep resisting the US presence in Iraq in a "way that we consider suitable."
The cleric also told his Mahdi Army that he will no longer accept "any armed men on the streets when they are empty of the occupier."
"If the occupier leaves the cities, we should not use our weapons. Don't raise your weapons against Iraqis as long as they don't help the occupier. I also call on the Iraqi government to back its people to rid the land of the occupier."
Did you see this, written by an Iraqi?
Khudayr Taher: An Apology to the Valiant American Soldier
In an April 8, 2008 article titled “Apology to the Valiant American Soldier,” Iraqi liberal Khudayr Taher bemoaned the ill treatment the U.S. army received from those it liberated:
“We forsook you and betrayed you - we, whose history is an expression of massacres, conflagrations, and ruin. We killed you, and we killed our dream and aspiration of reaching the sun, the moon, and the stars - [we killed our dream] of availing ourselves of the opportunity to live as true humans, thanks to your presence.
“My dear, brave American soldier, you noble individual who traversed land and sea in order to write the story of Iraqi freedom for the first time in its modern history - you believed, in accordance with logic, self-evident truths, and rational thought, that a people who had been subjected to repression, starvation, and killing would dance for joy, and would thank Allah who sent you to them as a liberating angel. [You believed that] they would strew flowers and break out in songs of joy that would smash the chains of slavery, ignominy, and humiliation.
“Not even a writer of surrealistic [literature] or [theater of] the absurd would have imagined that the Iraqi people would revolt against their liberator and would rush ardently back to a new bondage of a different kind - that of the religious cleric, the tribal sheikh, and the gang leader. It was unthinkable that the people would go against logic, rational thought, and self-evident truths, in a mad rush towards the abyss and total ruin.
“My beloved, brave American soldier, we apologize to you, and we are saddened at our wretched and miserable selves. Since we are a people that slaughters itself, and kills one another, cutting off heads, what can you expect from us other than ingratitude, perfidy, and stabbing you in the back for the benefit of Iranian and Syrian intelligence and Al-Qaeda?”
Tell me again why this guy is still alive?
I can’t answer that.
There’s a slim chance maybe he was in Shiraz today?
One can hope
I've always thought Shiraz was like Malbec or Beaujolais, best drunk young :)
You, too, Sir! Go find yourself an 8-dollar bottle of 2006 Malbec, from any vineyard in Argentina. Decant it, and be amazed.
May I suggest Kerrygold’s aged Cheddar (salt rind), delicious, and a little goes a long way.
I'm sure there are lots of Iraqis how want to live in peace.
Between the Iranian influence, criminals Saddam let go, the Sunnis who felt they were without a job and out of power, to the AQ infiltrators, they probably just kept on being under the thumb of someone else. It's scary being responsible if you've never done it.
The US won’t enter any political process that will allow Sadr to remain in Iran.
Under it, maybe.
But not in it.
I have had a few Argentina wines years back. They where great. Can’t remember the types nor the specific areas. Yea. I have indulged in aged Cheddars. Life has it’s pleasantries on occasions.
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