Posted on 08/20/2011 8:18:51 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Radical anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr today rejected Western calls for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to quit, calling the embattled leader a"brother"who stood in opposition to the United States.
For the first time Thursday, US President Barack Obama and Western leaders said that Assad must step down.
"We reject Obama's interference in Syrian affairs,"Sadr said in a statement released by his office in the holy Shiite city of Najaf in south Iraq.
Sadr said he supported revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt that overthrew despots there, but added that"there are many differences between the popular revolutions and what is happening in Syria."
"The difference is not in the people and their revolution, but in the government itself -- the brother, Bashar al-Assad, is a man of opposition against the American colonial presence in the Middle East."
Sadr also praised Syrians who oppose America, and offered to mediate in Syria if anti-regime protesters and Assad agree.
Obama and other major leaders such as British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday called on Assad to quit.
Obama also slapped harsh new sanctions on Syria, freezing state assets and blacklisting the oil and gas sector, in an escalation of pressure aimed at halting a bloody crackdown on protests.
Iraq's Sadr warns of 'war' if US presence extended - August 17, 2011 - AFP - A radical anti-US Shiite cleric warned of "war" if US forces stayed in Iraq beyond a year-end deadline for their withdrawal, in a brief statement viewed on Wednesday.Moqtada al-Sadr did not give any further details in the written reply to a follower's question, released by his office in the holy Shiite city of Najaf.
Asked whether or not he would negotiate directly or indirectly with US forces over a security training mission to last beyond the end of this year, the cleric replied simply: "No, there will be war."
The statement was at least the fourth message in the past two weeks from Sadr calling for American forces to leave the country, following an August 3 announcement by Iraqi political leaders that they would open talks with Washington over a training mission.
On August 6, he warned that a post-2011 US presence "should be resisted through military means".
About 47,000 US troops are still stationed in Iraq, all of whom must leave by the end of the year under the terms of a 2008 bilateral security pact, which would remain in force if a training deal is not agreed.
Would anyone listen to what Obama or Sadr says. These men are jokes.
What a shame some fine young sniper never got the chance to drill him a new anus in the middle of his forehead, years ago.
“holy Shiite city of Najaf”
Is there anything that is not holy in Iraq, Iran, Paki, and the M.E.? Anything but holy is more like it.
Mookie? Izzat you? I thought you was dead, dude! Regardless, buzz off.
Sure glad we didn’t “off” ole Mokie when we had the chance.
Well as many of of suggested back in 2004,2005 range, the fat man should have been shot in the head and thrown in a ditch.
We had a chance, several actually, to kill that fat ugly SOB during the Iraq war and squandered the opportunities.
Screw you, Sadr.
Vermin-sucking, fat little zit-boy.
Sadr, another Bush Screwup still haunting us!
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