Keyword: mookie
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TEL AVIV: Five days ago, an undisclosed intelligence agency intercepted a telephone call made by the head of Iran’s Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in which he was heard ordering his proxies in Iraq to attack the U.S embassy in Baghdad, as well as other Israeli and American targets, with the aim of taking hostages, Israeli sources say. It’s unclear whether this was a lapse in tradecraft on the part of the usually savvy Soleimani or whether the notorious Iranian military leader’s phone calls were being routinely intercepted. Nor is it clear whether it was the US or another...
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In a bold move, Iraq’s Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr spoke in favor of the return of the Jews who were evicted from the country half a century ago. Sadr responded to a question posed by one of his followers June 2 on whether Iraqi Jews have a right to return after having been forcibly displaced due to previous Iraqi policies, noting that they used to own properties and were part of the Iraqi community. He said, "If their loyalty was to Iraq, they are welcome." His answer was taken as tantamount to a religious edict, or fatwa. The response has...
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Hundreds of supporters of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed into Baghdad's Green Zone and broke into the Iraqi parliament building. The protesters, who had gathered outside the heavily fortified district, known as the Green Zone, crossed a bridge over the Tigris River chanting: 'The cowards ran away!' in apparent reference to departing lawmakers before breaking into the parliament building. The staggering scenes came after Sadr denounced Iraq's politicians' for their failure to reform a political quota system blamed for rampant corruption.
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Health officials have laid down the law and say they'll be no monkeying around until Mookie the monkey is deemed virus-free. Mookie, a 19-year-old white-faced Capuchin pet monkey, is on house arrest for 30-days until it can be cleared of all viruses by a veterinarian after he bit a man on Merritt Island nera a convenience store, officials said, reports Florida Today in Melbourne.
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As the media did a victory lap over Friday's announcement by President Obama that all American troops would be removed from Iraq by the end of the year, Fareed Zakaria took a surprisingly contrary position. Speaking from Tehran with a variety of CNN hosts throughout the day, Zakaria said this development was a disappointment for the United States and a victory for Iran. (video follows with transcript and commentary) JOHN KING, HOST: A simple question up front. U.S. troops leaving Iraq by the end of the year, Iran has to view this as a victory. FAREED ZAKARIA: Oh, I'm sure...
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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."...
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[snip] "What if the invasion forces will not leave our lands?" al-Sadr asked in the statement, which was read at the protest by his aide, Salah al-Obeidi. "What if the U.S. forces and others stay in our beloved lands? What if their companies and embassy headquarters will continue to exist with the American flags hoisted on them? Will you be silent? Will you overlook this?" "No, no America! No, no America!" the crowd shouted in reply. [snip]
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The return of Muqtada al-Sadr to Iraq after more than three years of self-imposed exile and his unexpected January 21 departure for Iran only two weeks later have provoked speculation over the security implications of his activities in Iraq and his precise relations with Iran (Fars News Agency, January 22; Gulf News January 21; Tehran Times, January 23). In light of a recent series of terrorist attacks in the shrine-city of Karbala during the Arbain religious festival (marking the passage of 40 days after the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein), al-Sadr’s departure has raised concerns about the Sadrist...
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Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led several Shiite uprisings against American forces in Iraq before travelling to neighbouring Iran at least three years ago, has returned to Iraq, officials said Wednesday. Al-Sadr's return caps another dramatic rise to prominence for him and his followers after they were routed by Iraqi and U.S. forces and appeared to fade from power just a few years ago. The strong showing by his bloc in last year's parliamentary elections and his key support for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki paved the way for Wednesday's return. It was not immediately clear how long al-Sadr would stay...
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Seems like Moqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American Iraqi Shiite cleric hiding in Iran, has decided to become Iraq’s version of Benedict Arnold: The Mehdi Army of Moqtada Sadr is evolving into a clandestine movement following Iraqi military operations targeting the group, intelligence suggests.The military wing of the Sadrist Movement, the political party loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, is “turning itself into a secret armed organization,” an Iraqi intelligence official told the Gulf News on condition of anonymity.Iraqi intelligence reports suggest the group’s numbers have dwindled from around 50,000 to as few as 150 in the past few years.Intelligence officials credit...
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Muqtada al Sadr. Muqtada al Sadr has ordered the Sadrist political movement to boycott the upcoming provincial elections. Sadr's order comes one day after his order to disband the Mahdi Army as a fighting force and the creations of a small, armed wing to attack Coalition forces exclusively. Sadrist aides claim Sadr rejects the election process and fears being associated with the occupation. "Sayyid Muqtada does not believe in elections or in the coming provincial governments as long as the occupation forces are here," Salah al Obaidi, a senior aide to Sadr, told The Washington Post. "We don't want...
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Soldiers from Company A, 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division set concrete barriers in place in the surroundings of the southern portion of the Sadr City district of Baghdad May 3. (US Army photo/Specialist Joseph Rivera Rebolledo) The battle for Sadr City continues as US and Iraqi forces continue to erect the concrete security barrier on Qods Street, the main thoroughfare that divides the southern third of Sadr City from the northern portion. US Special Operations Forces teams have entered the fray, and the specialized teams are fighting inside the Mahdi Army bastion for...
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Iraqi soldiers have begun evacuating families from portions of Sadr City, a sign that a large offensive will start shortly against the Mahdi Army militia that have long controlled the sector of Baghdad. Two stadiums have been secured for sheltering the evacuees as the government of Nouri al-Maliki attempts to break Moqtada al-Sadr’s last stronghold and end mortar attacks on the Green Zone. Maliki also wants to end Iran’s influence in Iraq, which caused Iran to cut off security talks with Maliki and the US:
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When the Sadr-Maliki story first broke during the initial push into Basra I noted something was distinctly missing from the news about Maliki’s failed efforts and Sadr’s grand victory - there was no dancing in the streets in response to the news stories? There were no cheers for Sadr, no celebrations by the Iraqi people. If this was the Muslim Street rising up to throw off the occupiers from the West - where were the throngs of people taking to the streets? It struck me as very odd that the only spontaneous cheer to rise up from the initial operations...
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An Iraqi soldier with the 1st Iraqi Army examines one of more than 160 mortars found during Operation Charge of the Knights in Basra April 19. Some of the markings on the weapons indicate a manufacturing date in 2007. U.S. Army photo. BASRA — The Iraqi Army discovered a large weapons and munitions cache in a house located in the Al Hyyaniyah area of Basra April 19. Soldiers from the 1st Iraqi Army discovered the cache during the search phase of Operation Charge of the Knights. The cache consisted of a large number of weaponry with Iranian markings. The cache...
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BAGHDAD — Iraqi soldiers took control of the last bastions of the cleric Moktada al-Sadr’s militia in Basra on Saturday, and Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad strongly endorsed the Iraqi government’s monthlong military operation against the fighters. By Saturday evening, Basra was calm, but only after air and artillery strikes by American and British forces cleared the way for Iraqi troops to move into the Hayaniya district and other remaining Mahdi Army militia strongholds and begin house-to house searches, Iraqi officials said. Iraqi troops were meeting with little resistance, said Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry...
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday threatened an "open war" against the Iraqi government unless it halted a crackdown by Iraqi and U.S. security forces on his followers. The specter of a full-scale uprising by Sadr sharply raises the stakes in his confrontation with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has threatened to ban the anti-American cleric's movement from political life unless he disbands his militia. A rebellion by Sadr's Mehdi Army militia -- which has tens of thousands of fighters -- could abruptly end a period of lower violence at a time when U.S. forces are starting...
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THE toll from fierce fighting in Baghdad’s Sadr City has risen to at least 200 dead and more than 1,000 injured, according to doctors in the besieged suburb. US and Iraqi troops killed at least 13 gunmen in heavy fighting there yesterday against the Mahdi Army loyal to the radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The reports from Sadr City hospitals suggest far higher casualty figures than previously reported, although they cannot be independently verified. Dr Qassem Mudalal, the director of the Imam Ali hospital, said: “There are 230 killed, I can confirm, in the hospitals of Sadr City. I’ve...
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Just scrolled on bottom of screen that Al Sadr is Dead ??? Anybody confirm !!
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With the Iraqi government applying pressure to the Sadrist movement and Muqtada al Sadr to disband the Mahdi Army, Iraq’s senior Shia cleric has weighed in on the issue. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most revered Shia cleric in Iraq, backed the government’s position that the Mahdi Army should surrender its weapons and said he never consulted with Sadr on disbanding the Mahdi Army. Instead, the decision to disband the Mahdi Army is Sadr’s to make. Sistani spoke through Jalal el Din al Saghier, a senior leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a rival political party to the...
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