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Headlines : IraqCleric Sadr threatens "open war" on Iraq government
I’m not sure the U.S. military knows what it’s dealing with here.
Many Iraqis have no love for Moqtada al-Sadr, but if he and his followers are forced into a war of survival against their hated occupiers, nationalism could very well become more important than tribalism or sectarianism, at least temporarily, and the U.S. could find itself fighting a total war against the remaining population of Iraq.
If the U.S. is looking to create a messianic figure with pan-Islamic appeal, I can think of no better way than willfully picking a fight with the last defender of the majority of the terribly oppressed people of Iraq.
May whatever gods exist protect the people of Iraq and expedite the defeat of those who would attack them.
[Posted By bacchus]Republished from The Raw Story
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 to leave Iraq.
“I’m giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government — either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace … or it will be (seen as) the same as the previous government,” Sadr said, referring to Saddam Hussein’s fallen regime, without elaborating.
Posted by bacchus
Born in Nysa (in present day Turkey), raised by nymphs and satyrs. Son of Zeus and a mortal named Semele. Youngest of the Olympian gods. Patron god of vines, fruit trees, gardens, agriculture and fertility. Patron god of the stage (the happy and scowling...
In surprise visit to Iraq, Rice taunts Shiite cleric After long treating radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia gingerly, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ridiculed him yesterday as a man who asks his followers to fight to the death while he resides in safety in Iran…Al-Sadr, who threatened Saturday to declare a formal end to a cease-fire he announced in August, was also described by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker as running a weakened military organization.
“at a time when U.S. forces are starting to leave Iraq”?
LOL.
I don’t THINK so.
Who wrote that new constitution of yours Nuri. Maybe they forgot to leave this part in :
OPEN QUOTE (from das wikie)
Amendment II (the Second Amendment) of the United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights declares a well-regulated militia as “being necessary to the security of a free State” and prohibits infringement of “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”
END OF QUOTE
Has not Muqtada demonstrated that he can just stay “stop” or “go”?
Has Nuri demonstrated that he has anything even reMOTEly approximately equivalent to that level of control?
I don’t THINK so.
Everyone’s probably thinking to themselves, “Shit, what was the first thing our forefathers thought it was important to say in them there amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America?
OPEN QUOTE
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. On its face, it prohibits the United States Congress from making laws “respecting an establishment of religion” (the “Establishment Clause”) or that prohibit free exercise of religion (the “Free Exercise Clause”), laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to assemble peaceably, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
LOL
Condi
In all fairness to Condi, I can see why the example of someone being loyal to their community might rub her the wrong way…
I think the U.S. government attitude towards Sadr’s threat is plain:
US warplanes bomb Baghdad’s Sadr City US warplanes bombed the east Baghdad district of Sadr City overnight, where Shiite militiamen are battling security forces, residents said on Monday, as the American military reported another five people killed in the embattled township.
While (somehow or other) “Iraq’s government will confront armed militias and will not allow all-out war as threatened by populist Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Monday” according to Reuters.
“will not allow all-out war”
maybe they’ll hand in the rest of their guns to Moqtada?
I’m sure, in part, that the pressure coming down on Muqtada is a function of all the other things going wrong for das neofeudalist conquerors.
Their system is malfunctioning and so is their debugger!
Sheiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissse.
...The fighting continued during Rice’s visit. A ceremony at which she unveiled a plaque commemorating civilian deaths in the Green Zone was briefly delayed by a “duck and cover” alert, one of several during her six-hour visit to the fortified compound housing the U.S. Embassy and much of the Iraqi government.
The first of three rocket attacks occurred while she was meeting with Maliki at his office. In the second attack, as she returned to the Green Zone from a meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a rocket struck in an area between the embassy and the main U.S. dining facility. A U.S. official said two people were injured.
The third attack came as Rice was completing a tour of the tactical operations center in the embassy on her way to the ceremony. Those waiting for her to appear took shelter in hallways until the all-clear was sounded, while Rice stayed in the operations center and watched tracking screens indicating the rocket’s launch site in Sadr City and its trajectory.
Washington Post
Sounds like Blackwater is making fun of the woman.
Meanwhile, Condi’s urging the Middle East to to make the Genocide in Iraq a issue of Race, rather than Faith — so now at least we’re getting a little closer to the truth.
US urges Arab support for Iraq
OPEN QUOTE
The US is asking Iraq’s neighbours to back statements of support for Baghdad with money and political moves, claiming an improvement in the level of violence in Iraq.
END OF QUOTE
None of the Gulf States have an embassy in Baghdad. Can you imagine? Isn’t there a little spot for ‘em in the Green Zone? Condi? Can’t you guys just set up a few cots.