Moqtada al-Sadr orders Iraq PM out of Basra

Telegraph UK ^ | 2:53am GMT 27/03/2008 | Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has demanded that the country's prime minister leave Basra where he is overseeing a military operation to purge the southern city of its radical Shi'ite militiamen.

• SAS trooper shot dead in al-Qa'eda raid
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  Relations between Sadr and Nouri al-Maliki have deteriorated sharply as the two men clashed over fighting between Iraqi forces and gunmen in Sadrist communities in Iraq.

  
  An Iraqi man carries the body of his son, who was killed during clashes in Basra, during a funeral, while militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr guards a street in the city
  
  

  Mr Maliki gave followers of Sadr and other Shi'ite gunmen 72 hours to surrender their weapons and renounce violence or bear the brunt of a military crackdown.

  "We are not going to chase those who hand over their weapons within 72 hours," said Mr Maliki. "If they do not surrender their arms, the law will follow its course."

  A spokesman for Sadr said his movement had appealed to Mr Maliki to reduce tensions in the city by returning to Baghdad and sending a parliamentary delegation to seek an end to fighting.

  Liwa Sumaysim, a spokesman for Sadr said: "Sadr has asked prime minister Maliki to leave Basra and to send a parliamentary delegation to resolve the crisis in the city."

[FARS]

First I am getting mixed signals that Mookie is off his hospital bed and out of his coma. Has he been seen by anyone in Basra?

Secondly, Basra is about 300 yards across the Shatt Al Arab from Iran, so orders can be coming directly from Iranians in Mookie’s name. And Islamic Iranian leadership will happily order Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki out of Basra or any other city if it suits the Ahmadi-Nejad and Khamenei Mullocracy.

Thirdly one of the cities seized by the Mookies is the main arms smuggling, frontier transition route from Iran into Iraq and they must need to replenish deadly force supplies, arms/explosives etc.,inside Iraq. There were unexplained explosions in some of the main Iranian factories that normally supply these and production suffered.

I had a sneaky, happy feeling we had a part in those. Now the deaths will go up again just as Al Qaeda was on the run.

[mad_as_he$$]

@#R%$%#$!#&^&! I wanted him dead. F’er has nine lives. OR it was all a hoax. The other possibility is he has been dead for sometime and they do not want it to get out. Seems unlikely in a martyr obsessed religion.

[FARS]

Don’t give up. He might be dead. The MIXED signals do NOT point away from his being dead or no longer in a coma. I am simply unable to confirm it one way or another to my satisfaction. As you point out, his being dead and being used as a catspaw proxy to incite/regulate his followers is the most likely scenario right now.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[1035rep]

Thanks for the ping. Interesting.

[txhurl]

Been watching you around FR, and I must say I am impressed with your compassionate Machiavellianism.

Your thoughts on Petraus?

[gleeaikin]

Since my son was there with the 82nd Airborne in 1990 and 91, and did 8 months in Afghanistan with Special Forces in 2006, and could be sent back there before he finishes his 20, you are right, I feel very sarcastic. Especially, when I hear reports of how our troops are being supplied with questionable water supplies and overpriced food among other things.

That being said, Saddam was a cockroach, well worth stepping on, but at what cost, and with what incompetence? Thirty-five years ago my mother was fulminating about what a beast he and the Baath party were, so I have been aware of this a long time.

[gleeaikin]

As I was logging on tonight, I saw a new FR thread to the effect that the Iraq army has stalled in Basra and the British troops on the sidelines there want to help, but the British diplomats don’t want to let them do it. I think this was from the British paper The Telegraph.

[SunkenCiv]

Wow, thanks for the further info FARS.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1992275/posts?page=121#121

[coconutt2000]

It’s time to put Mookie’s head in a box and FedEx it to Tehran with a memo telling Iran to butt out.

If you want it to get there in one piece, best to use DHL.

[sheik yerbouty]

Mookie is in need of turbanation..

[LaurenD]

I don’t have any bad opinions of Gen. Petreus. I just have a hard time trusting any high ranking officers but that is from my own experiences. In my experience, it is a commonly held belief among enlisted and lower ranking officers that once an officer makes colonel and above, he becomes more of a politician than someone looking out for those he is commanding. (Not all, but many). Once they start to spend more and more of their time with senators, their loyalties and priorities seem to change. They start to become more like them.

I mean, what he is supposed to say and do? I imagine it would be awfully hard to butt heads with politicians that can damage your career if you don’t go along with one of the main two alliances already established in Washington. How can someone in his position be brutally honest if he does disagree and also cares about his career? Look where it got Rumsfeld.

[bill1952]

You say nothing. The above quote that I gave you is from a spokeman for our military. The fact that you choose to ignore it speaks for itself.

Ignore this, little one:

al-Maliki said he was "surprised to see that party emerge with all the weapons available to it and strike at everything — institutions, people, departments, police stations and the army."

al-Maliki's comments appeared to reinforce suspicions that his government failed to foresee the backlash, including a sharp upsurge in violence

a group of police in the Mahdi Army's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City abandoned their posts and handed over their weapons to al-Sadr's local office.

al-Maliki acknowledged he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee

the minister either is circumscribed in his powers to remove Sadr, or unsure that he has that ability at all.

The U.S. military had no immediate comment

The above quote that I gave you is from a spokeman for our military.
The fact that you choose to ignore it speaks for itself.

Why don't you use more childish vitrol on those who dare to disagree with you and ignore that?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993721/posts

[FreeReign]

Post #77 | bill1952:Real power is displayed by going in and kicking ass. Not by giving Sadr 72 hours or 72 seconds. The fact that he has done so is proof that the minister either is circumscribed in his powers to remove Sadr, or unsure that he has that ability at all. Sadr can see this pretty clearly.

Maliki:surprised to see that party emerge with all the weapons available to it and strike at everything — institutions, people, departments, police stations and the army.

It doesn't logically follow from your above Maliki quote, that Maliki is limited in his powers to defeat the Mahdi Army, as you state in post #77.

To the contrary, from your link, Maliki calls the fight for control of Basra "a decisive and final battle".

Given all the U.S., British, allied and Iraqi blood that has been spilled to get to this point, I would NOT be so quick to claim that we will lose this showdown.

[golfisnr1]

Youe can bet that we have advisors in Basra.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Always a nice thought, but there are too many women and children there.

[Blood of Tyrants]

He is a coward. Notice how he always send other people to die?

[farlander]

Hell why wait that long... I doubt the leveling part would be too much of a problem. I’m sure it’s already been well surveyed and something flat needs to be built there. A parking lot. Or an open air glass field... Either would be fine.

[Alter Kaker]

What a load of wrong information.

Your nuanced response has been duly noted.