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.

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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."

[Marine_Uncle]

I support your few and can take it as mine. My wording did not express the viewpoint that it is a shame there are so many dopes within the Shia community that are willing to yet follow a few dozen or so anti-Iraqi government persons, who obvious to often fall in line with the Iranian Qod's forces.
I have since day one followed the view that Sadr should have been taken out, and all elements of his army destroyed.
And over the past three years have voice the dire need early on for Sadr City to be totally cordoned off, no one leaves, and no one enters but US and trusted Iraqi forces, as they cleaned the place up.
And that held true for the many strongholds in the TOD area and elsewhere, where the Sadr Mahdi Army have operated as well as the powerful Badr Brigade in it's mostly, southern and south eastern influence.
Maliki said three years back he would deal with the militias and has not to any degree. At least now we see it may finally become resolved.
One hell of a lot of goons must be put into the grave. No other option is on the table that makes sense.

[HKMk23]

Take your damned bombs and get the hell out of here. NOW.

I hear you loaud and clear, Ma'am, but you just KNOW what Mookie and his butt-buddy Ahmadinnerjacket are gonna say to THAT.

"MAKE ME!"

THEN what?

This is Maliki's "OK Corral"; his LAST chance to stop flappin' his gums and start slingin' lead. If he doesn't make it happen right here, I really think we're going to see a massive collapse of Iraqi-on-the-street support for him, and THAT would be very bad. For everyone.

[FreeReign]

I hear you loaud and clear, Ma'am, but you just KNOW what Mookie and his butt-buddy Ahmadinnerjacket are gonna say to THAT. "MAKE ME!" THEN what?

Pssst.

15,000 Iraqi Security Forces and Police have been fighting the militias for several days and the fight is ongoing.

[Frankie Tuba]

Moqtada Sadr’s Mehdi Army is battling the Iranian backed Badr Brigade. The Badr Brigade controls the Iraqi military. So the Iranian influenced Iraqi army and thus al-Malaki are battling Sadr’s Mehdi for the oil. The Brits let things get out of control in the south.

Time to call in the marines after the B-52’s clean the carpet.

[bill1952]

>I’m guessing fat-boy sees it more clearly...than you do.

I’m guessing that just one thing that you wrote is absolutely correct. - You are guessing.

I see that more clearly ... than you do. - Or can, for that matter.

[FreeReign]

The Iraqi federal government has sent 15,000 security forces and they are "conducting aggressive military operations … trying to rid the city of militias, thugs, smugglers that have been plaguing it for months".

I see that more clearly ... than you do. - Or can, for that matter

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.

[Alter Kaker]

Uh...he actually thinks the PM of the Iraq will just get up and leave one of his own cities because a random cleric said so.

Well, al-Maliki is really just a warlord, and not the most powerful warlord out there. The Iraqi state isn't powerful, and he's hardly in control of what there is. The army at al-Maliki's back in al-Basra is composed of several armed militias within the Iraqi Army, some are loyal to al-Maliki's Dawa Party and others (such as the Badrists) have formed a marriage of convenience for the purpose of reducing al-Sadr's power.

al-Sadr is considerably weaker than he has been, certainly, but he's still the single most powerful and influential figure in Iraq. If the US pulled out tomorrow, he would overthrow the al-Maliki regime and become the leader of around 2/3 of the country in about a minute and a half.

[Alter Kaker]

Time to call in the marines after the B-52’s clean the carpet.

You're suggesting that B-52s carpet bomb the Iraqi Army? The IA has totally provoked this fight, and you're right that they (or rather the Badrists within) are only doing fighting al-Sadr to seize control of the oil revenues ahead of the upcoming elections, which will empower the hardly pro-US Badr Organization... but bombing an Army that the US has spent five years trying to build does not seem like a public relations success.

[Alter Kaker]

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

Couldn't disagree more. Al-Sadr is a thug, but then so is al-Maliki. al-Maliki is actually much MORE closely controlled by Tehran than al-Sadr is. Al-Sadr has power by his own right. Al-Maliki, to be totally honest, would be dead were it not for the Iranians.

[Nam Vet]

Time for a well placed bullet through the fat little piece of crap. We should have done it years ago. I'm hoping we won't pass up the chance again.

Nam Vet

[prophetic]

would’nt it be great if the British Prince was secretly rotated to Basra among the British troops there and he managed to get the head kill shot for this piece of Shiite!!

[prophetic]

I'll place an order for 100,000 rounds please and here is my purchase order :-) :-)

Its times like these that I wish I had some Star Trek technology e.g. the Transporter and Replicator. I'd get a few of these rounds and replicate as many as I want on demand and then have my team beam into Al-Sadar base and take him out, then simply beam out again.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

BOMB~BOMB~BOMB~IRAN!~

[Allegra]

I hear you loaud and clear, Ma'am, but you just KNOW what Mookie and his butt-buddy Ahmadinnerjacket are gonna say to THAT.

"MAKE ME!"

THEN what?

Simple. Then we MAKE THEM.

If he doesn't make it happen right here, I really think we're going to see a massive collapse of Iraqi-on-the-street support for him...

He doesn't really have Iraqi-on-the-street support...except for in Sadr City. Which is quiet so far this morning.

[HKMk23]

Simple. Then we MAKE THEM.

When I see photographic proof of Mookie's demise at the hands of the Iraqi Army, THEN I will grant that Maliki has been successful.

[Allegra]

When I see photographic proof of Mookie's demise at the hands of the Iraqi Army, THEN I will grant that Maliki has been successful.

I'm sure Maliki's waiting for that with bated breath. As if he doesn't have enough to deal with right now.

[HKMk23]

Make no mistake; I want Maliki to come out on top of this. It seems to me (watching from thousands of miles away, as I am) that Iraq is in too precarious a condition to adequately withstand the kind of failure of leadership that would be represented by al-Sad’r getting things his way.

Iraq is seen as being in a state of “here a faction, there a faction, evr’y where a Muslim faction”, and a resounding smackdown of al-Sad’r would, I think, go a long way toward reassuring the average Iraqi citizen that there is a firm hand at the helm.

[Allegra]

Most of us long ago stopped caring how Iraq appears to people relaxing safely back home in front of their computers, trying to call the shots from their armchairs.

I call it like I see it. If you choose not to believe me, that's your prerogative. I won't lose any sleep over it.

We have a mission to do. And we're the ones dodging the mortars and the rockets.

If you can't give us any respect, at least back off on the attitude a little, hmmmm?

[anglian]

The Iranian Shia Conspiracy To Control Iraq
March 27th. You have to pay very close attention to what this guy is saying in this video. He is confirming a lot of theories being tossed around right now with regard to the current Shia militia movements throughout the Middle East.
http://patdollard.com/2008/03/the-shia-conspiracy-to-kill-ayatollah-khamenei-and-nouri-al-maliki

[gleeaikin]

We entered this war with the goal of making things better for the people there?

I did hope that this would be the result, but I always thought the goal was big contracts for Halliburton and similar companies, and “He tried to kill my Daddy”. Nevertheless, at least we will never have to deal with psychopath Uday, and sociopath Kusay being in power after papa Saddam. On the other hand, look what has happened to the price of oil. Heard today a major Iraq pipeline was hit which should bump the oil market up some more.