Alert: Al Sadr Shuts Down Mahdi Army
Iraq’s radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday announced the suspension of all activities by his Mahdi Army militia for six months.
“I direct the Mahdi Army to suspend all its acitivites for six months until it is restructured in a way that helps honour the principles for which it is formed,” Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the city of Najaf.
An aid, Sheik Hazim al-Araji, read the statement on Iraqi state television.
The order was issued after two days of bloody clashes in the Shiite holy city of Karbala that claimed at least 52 lives. Iraqi security officials blamed Mahdi militiamen for attacking mosque guards, some of whom are linked to the rival Badr Brigade militia.
A spokesman for al-Sadr, Ahmed al-Shaibani, denied the Mahdi Army was involved in the Karbala fighting. Al-Sadr called for an independent inquiry into the clashes and urged his supporters to cooperate with the authorities “to calm the situation down,” al-Shaibani said.
Tensions have been rising in southern Iraq as rival Shiite groups maneuver for power, especially in the oil-rich area around Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city.
Al-Sadr organized the Mahdi Army shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Since then the Mahdi Army has become the most active and feared armed Shiite group, blamed by the U.S. for driving thousands of Sunnis from their homes in retaliation for Sunni extremist attacks on Shiite civilians.
The Mahdi Army launched two major uprisings against U.S. and coalition forces in 2004. Since then, the Americans have differentiated between the mainstream Sadrist organization and what they term “rogue” elements within the force that have staged numerous deadly attacks against U.S. forces in Baghdad and elsewhere.
The Mahdi Army has often been linked to Iran and been accused of operating as a proxy army for the repressive state’s war on America in Iraq.
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What pricipals would that be there Mookie? You mean killing Sunnis or Kurds? Training in Iran to emplace EFP’s to kill Americans and innocents? More Tagyiya from the mook-meister.
August 29th, 2007 at 5:16 amMaybe Mookie will give “The Perky One” an exclusive interview in a super secret location to try and CPR hers and CBS’s down the toilet ratings?
CBS sending Couric to Iraq, Syria
‘Evening News’ anchor sets Mideast trip
http://www.variety.com/VR1117971030.html
Hold on, boys! Help is on the way. The truth seeker is coming … ~bleh~
August 29th, 2007 at 5:21 amMaybe if they do suspend the fighting the pressure will be taken off of mookie and we can catch him slipping and smoke his ass
August 29th, 2007 at 5:47 ami suppose he feared the dummycrats would up the pressure and kill all his kids.. keep up the pressure and kill the fat little pig..make him a martyr like his buddy zarqawi,,
August 29th, 2007 at 5:59 amdrilianwr -
Decapitation of the perky one would raise the ratings! She could go out on top!
Do you think she will wear her little jimmy choo shoes in the desert?
August 29th, 2007 at 6:06 amHe needs 6 mos to build his depleted Army…if we haven’t caught on to his political bs we never will
August 29th, 2007 at 6:40 amAl Sadr’s in trouble with Maliki and the country for ruining the top Shiite holiday.
August 29th, 2007 at 6:43 amEither his men started the battle without his permission and he needs to assert his authority and clean house, or he’s doing this merely as a symbolic gesture to calm Maliki and the people down, and get them off his ass.
This is crap. What are we to think Mookie’s soldiers are going to do for six months?
Vacation in the South of France?
August 29th, 2007 at 6:57 amBoy Scout Camp?
Get jobs?
Vacation Bible School?
@ Steve in NC
Do you think she will wear her little jimmy choo shoes in the desert? ….
Gonna be real hard for her to sit atop a tank and show off those boney legs of hers over there in a country that beats its own women for such displays.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:04 amP.S. -
Oh, sorry, meant to add this to my last post (The UN has officially arrived, doncha know …):
“Angelina Jolie Visits Refugees, U.S. Troops in Iraq, Syria”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294936,00.html
http://www.tmz.com/2007/08/28/angelina-iraq-and-roll/
Woopie!
What Ange and UN Co. will neglect to mention is most of the people she is seeing in dire straights have been that way long before we invaded … But the impression to the MSM will be that we are the cause and problem.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:07 amIs it possible that Sarkosy’s comments regarding an impending attack on Iran by the US to wipe out their Nuke program may have actually got through their thick skulls? I see the invisible hand of the Iranians at work here. We’ll see if Al-Sadrb has any control left of his forces.
I hope our boys really pput the hurt on them now.
K
August 29th, 2007 at 7:45 amPut his fat ass six feet under while he’s inactive. Don’t be fooled by bullshit.
August 29th, 2007 at 11:59 am