Posted on 03/31/2008 11:22:26 AM PDT by tobyhill
BAGHDAD - Fighters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have melted away from the streets of the Iraqi capital and Basra where they fought fierce battles with security forces, AFP reporters said today.
Yesterday, Sadr ordered his fighters to withdraw from the streets in a move signaling the end of clashes which erupted in the southern port city of Basra and quickly spread to Shiite areas across Iraq.
AFP correspondents in Baghdad and Basra said that militants were off the streets in the two key cities where they fought Iraqi security forces backed by US-led coalition air power.
The Sadr group in Baghdad confirmed that fighters from the cleric’s feared Mahdi Army militia were no longer deployed in the capital.
"Sadr movement and Jaish al-Mahdi (Mahdi Army) are committed to the order of Sadr," said Hamdallah al-Rikabi, spokesman of the cleric’s movement in western Baghdad. "We are implementing what Sadr has ordered."
(Excerpt) Read more at thetimes.co.za ...
Then who launched rockets at the Green Zone...twice today?
Wasn’t the deal contingent upon Iraq releasing Mookies fighters? Did that happen?
I have no idea, but every time I point this out I get trashed.
The guy surrendered twice in the last week, yet for some reason we are supposed to believe it matters. Of course he’s willing to give up his arms. All he has to do is hop on over to Iran for replacements. Heck, they even arranged for only token “arrests” of his fighters.
Call me when he’s dead. Not in custody: dead.
Cool! I wonder when that was done?
I heard some wild stuff coming from Sadr City Wednesday and Thursday nights and plenty of noise the two nights following. Saw flares up as well. But this video was loaded before any of that.
Just goes to show how many times Sadr City has to get its ass kicked.
Well done, Special Forces!
It IS a victory for the Mahdi army.
Once again, instead of being wiped off the map they were allowed to get out and will regroup.
They are fighting a stalling strategy, and it is working. I don’t diminish the victory in this individual battle, but Sadr is not losing as long as he can keep going back to Iran for fresh arms and troops.
But did Mook really get his moon kicked? The Lamestreamers continue to call it a victory for Sadr. What’s the truth???
A 120 to 1 killed, wounded or captured ratio for Iraqi Troops is a loss for Sadr no matter how the MSM wants to dice it.
Thank you!
CNN, Monday 3/31
***The mood Monday on the streets in Basra was quiet, said al-Askari, the prime minister's spokesman. Shops opened in the morning, and the movement of people was almost back to normal in the center of town.
Troops and police, whom the U.S. and Britain have backed, are in control of much of Basra, and local security forces are going house-to-house in some districts to confiscate weapons and chase “the outlaws and the criminal and smuggling gangs,” the spokesman said.***
Sadr lost Basra so he's declared the loser at least for this round.
Maybe Thomas W knows. I think he might be the camera operator.
They’re Iranian Paper Tigers. I agree that it’s not over but this battle was a true hardened test for the Iraqi Troops and overall they passed which is a lose for Sadr.
From the LA Times....barf:
Al-Sadr Trumps in Latest Showdown
*******************EXCERPT******************
"Al-Sadr achieved what he wanted," said Vali Nasr, an expert on Shiite politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. "He stood his ground, made his point and showed he has the real power in the south, not his rivals."
In the balance of politics in Iraq, that means the biggest hit is taken by the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and its allies.
And judging by the sounds in Baghdad tonight, the good guys aren't backing down. I mean the sounds right now.
This sucker ain't over just because Mookie surrendered.
There has been no acceptance of his surrender terms.
If 461 dead, 1100 wounded and hundreds captured is making a point then I guess the LA Times is right.
In footage of the fighting that I saw, there were quite a few fat old men who didn't look like they were all that comfortable with their weapons.
At the same time that troops gain seasoning, they also lose veterans to attrition. Peace becomes more attractive, when the opposition proves that they have grown stronger while you have grown weaker.
Michael Frazier
Now that is GOOD NEWS....Thanks...
Nouri al-Maliki humiliated as gamble to crush Shia militias fail
****************************EXCERPT***************************
At the Sadr Office in the centre of the massive slum in northeast Baghdad, home to 2.5 million impoverished Shias, the receptionists greeted visitors with sweets to mark their victory over Nouri al-Maliki, the increasingly isolated Iraqi
Prime Minister, who directed the assault on Shia rogue militias in Basra, the lawless southern oil city. “This is for victory over Maliki,” one said with a grin. “The fighting ended on our terms.”
Certainly Mr al-Maliki’s huge gamble appeared to have failed yesterday. Having vowed to crush Shia militias with a 30,000-strong force in Basra, he ended up suing for peace with the people he had described as “worse than al-Qaeda”. Al-Mahdi Army kept its weapons and turf.
Sheikh Salman al-Freiji, the head of the Sadr Office, said that Mr al-Maliki was a tool in the hands of the Americans. “The American project has been to split the Iraqi sects and community from Day_1,” he said. “They tried to split Sunnis from Shia. Now that has failed, they are trying to split the Shia.” He said that an al-Mahdi Army freeze on operations, introduced in August, was still in place but reserved the right to attack the “illegitimate American occupation”.
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