Posted on 04/09/2011 7:33:21 AM PDT by Cardhu
Moqtada al Sadr, a prominent Iraqi Shia cleric, has threatened to revive his Mehdi Army and relaunch armed resistance against continued US presence in the country.
The threat came as tens of thousands of people marched across the capital Baghdad, marking the eighth anniversary of former leader Saddam Hussein's fall on Saturday.
A spokesperson of al Sadr, said the US had until the end of the year to meet the cleric's demands.
The Shia leader, returned to Iraq from a self-imposed exile following a strong showing by his bloc in the 2010 parliamentary election in January 2011.
Al Jazeera correspondent Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said that this time Sadr had not only warned US troops but also the contractors.
"The rally marks the start of new campaign by one of the most powerful political forces in Iraq and it must be remembered that the Shia leader had fought against the US army in 2004," she said.
"The protests were also directed against the government for not providing jobs and basic services to the people."
Shortly after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Shia leader had spoken out against the Coalition Provisional Authority, led by Paul Bremer.
He has continually criticised the US military presence in Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.aljazeera.net ...
Sadr should have been whacked 9 years ago.
Some idiot decided they need to leave some of the “internal opposition” intact.....lest they offend some of the locals....
He is a puppet of Iran and will be responsible for many more American deaths in the future.
FU MOOKIE!
Would someone please inform this person that WE invaded and conquered HIS country, and he does not get to call the shots. Loser.
To paraphrase...Will someone please rid us of this meddlesome Mullah?
We would do better if we pulled all the troops out of those countries, including Iraq, and QUIT sending them Billions of Dollars.
Then, move the troops to the border of Israel and use our manpower and equipment to stop all attacks on Israel.
We have already lost any support or control of most of the Middle East Nations, and we won’t let our boys FIGHT a WAR, but we ask them to OCCUPY a military base, as if our presence is helping.
Sadr is right. If we aren’t conducting a WAR, then what are we doing there?
I am aware that we have bases in other countries to establish a ‘presence’ or ‘occupy’ them, but those countries are our allies. Iraq is not our ally, even though some may think so.
P.S. I know that things are never ‘that simple’, and I wouldn’t want to be President because figuring out the right thing to do, and then it actually working, is a hard ground to hoe. It would help if the President was on ‘our side’, though.
Regardless of your thoughts on Sadr, with whom I can care less about, he is right....we need to get our troops out of Iraq, and to be honest, Afghanistan, as well. Let them stand our fall on their frakin’ own. =.=
Hopefully we can do that in November 2012. Or did you mean Sadr?
Rabid dogs need killing or they’ll continue to bite.
We did form an agreement with the government of Iraq and it's leaders stating that we would pull out as soon as they took over. We haven't (for many reasons).
Seems to me his is within his rights to call the 'shot' on this one.
We have to, we can't survive another 4 years.
I'm not talking Sadr...
Radio Address By President George W. Bush To The Nation
December 8, 2008
This withdrawal will take place in two stages: The first stage will occur next year, when Iraqi forces assume the lead for security operations in all major population centers, while U.S. combat forces move out of Iraqi cities and move into an overwatch role. After this transition has occurred, the drawdown of American forces will continue to the second stage, with all U.S. forces returning home from Iraq by the end of 2011. The second agreement that America and Iraq have signed is a Security Agreement, known as a Status of Forces Agreement. One of the primary purposes of this agreement is to ensure protection for our troops and Defense Department civilians as the Iraqi government begins to exercise greater sovereignty. Our military commanders have assured me that the agreement's provisions meet this purpose. At the same time, it also respects the authority of the Iraqi government. And it lays out a framework for the withdrawal of American forces in Iraq -- a withdrawal that is possible because of the success of the surge.
LOL! Take your demands and stick 'em, Mookie! President Bush was WAY ahead of you. Idiot...
What would this Mullah do if he wasn’t a Mullah? Would you buy a used car from him? All he is is a useful idiot for Iran. Like the USA, 80% of the less educated would vote for him, and thus his popularity.
Most of the problems would go away if we quit sending them TONS OF MONEY.
We know they don’t buy food with it, they buy weapons. Saddam had more weapons/munitions, per square foot, than any country on the planet.
And we (or some members of the coalition) just gave a bunch more weapons to the same group of terrorists that used to be in Iraq.
We keep adding fuel to the fire, and wonder why the fire is still burning.
They lost. We won. The reason we haven’t left yet is pukes like him who can hardly wait to take over and impose and Iranian-like, Iranian-friendly regime. He can suck it up. The government of Iraq is in place courtesy of us. General MacArthur would have come in handy.
He in the beginning only lived because of the benevolence of the US.
An arrogant little prick riding on his daddies clerical notoriety, the US had opportunities in 2003 to wipe him away like a bug you just stepped on, but the decision was made not to target him. So this vermin lived, grew and cost many Americans their lives. Thank the senior military and political leadership in Iraq at the time. Of course over time, his militia professionalized, grew, he vetted his people better, understood how we operate, became better and closer connected with Iran that backs him, and vetted whole sections of town that are dangerous for coalition and safe for his forces, i.e. Sadr City...... Today he's not the easy target he was and his removal even if we did take him out would cause greater consequences.
In April 2004 during the relief of 1AD by 1CD and during some of the transition of authority to the Iraqi's, on advice of the Iranians he made a big stand and there too we squashed him in Baghdad, chased him to Karbala, Najef, Kufa, etc..... But after weeks of fighting, press at home that was unfavorable and the fact that this was largely occuring in our allies Southern area's (The UK was asking for us to back off too) we were called off and let him slip from our hands. At one point, we ALMOST had him using a drone, but unable to determine which vehicle and three to choose from (one missile left) we killed several of his lieutenants and just injured him by guessing the wrong one (That's when you saw him on TV with his arm all bandaged up and hiding in a mosque).......... He's a fat, ugly, not so bright little bastard who has the Iranians whispering in his ears and is just smart enough to be a pain in the ass and not be easy to kill. He's a no one who uses the clerical significance of his father and in essence the turmoil of post conflict to create this militia in a Shi’ia area's exploiting the Suni/Shi’ia divide as well. A pure pariah.
Letting him live was a bad decision, but that's 20-20 hindsight. But I guess like most bug infections, it's generally better to kill them before they infest more of the house and that should have been known by the decision makers back then too.
He's a Democrat?
Thank You for the details, and thank you for your service!
We've been waiting years for the Iraqis to "step up" so we could "step down" as W used to put it!
Now we have Sec. Gates saying we may stay for 2 years, 3 years or even longer if Iraq asks instead of being out at year's end like Obama promised.
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