Sistani backs Sadr, nixes anti-militia coalition
posted at 7:11 pm on December 23, 2006 by Allahpundit
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Shiite first, Iraqi second. I don’t know where we go from here, except maybe home.
One of Iraq’s most influential Shiite clerics has rejected a U.S.-backed proposal to isolate Shiite extremists in the national government, saying Iraq should govern and police itself with the help of anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada Sadr, according to those who spoke to him today…
Ali Adeeb, another member of the Dawa party, said Shiite leaders, including the prime minister, will resist U.S. efforts to block Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.
They’re already resisting. Maliki told Gates a few days ago that the militias aren’t the problem. His plan for ending the violence involves us hammering the Sunnis while he restrains the Shiites, which presumably means giving them a free hand to continue pushing the entire Sunni population of Baghdad out of the city, neighborhood by neighborhood:
As the United States debates what to do in Iraq, this country’s Shiite majority is already moving toward its own solution.
In a broad power grab in Baghdad Shiite militias are pushing Sunnis out, forcing them to flee to an increasingly embattled territory in the western part of the city. At least 10 mixed neighborhoods have become almost entirely Shiite this year, say residents, local officials and U.S. and Iraqi military commanders…
Shiites are seizing power broadly. The Shiite-dominated government is demanding more control over the Iraqi security forces, but militias have settled deeply within their ranks and the Sunni public is terrified at the prospect…
Using the unlikely analogy of Saddam draining the marshes in southern Iraq to destroy the marsh Arabs, [Shiite minister Hadi al-Ameri] talked about plans to encircle Baghdad using a network of rivers, a dam and several highways to choke off supply lines of Sunni militants.
“He divided it, drained the water and within two to three years it was a desert,” he said. “I believe Baghdad will be like this.”
It’s ethnic cleansing in slow motion, presumably to advance to full speed once we’re out of the way. I wonder if the popular image of Maliki as timid and ambivalent is totally wrong; maybe, like the Iranians, he’s just stalling to give his side the time it needs to carry out a task. Gen. Casey said today he’s had a change of heart and now supports a surge (coincidentally after talking to Gates), but the plan du jour calls for the new troops to clear and hold mixed neighborhoods in Baghdad. Maybe Maliki’s strategy is to make sure there’s none left by the time we get there. That’ll basically leave us no choice but to focus on the Sunnis, particularly with Sistani having now lent his moral authority — again — to Sadr. If we go after him and the Mahdi Army in earnest, it could lead to a Shiite uprising.
Meanwhile, you would think the Sunnis might have enough common sense to support an anti-Sadr coalition and agree to whatever demands are asked of them in hopes of protecting themselves. But of course, you would be wrong.
Update: Reader Aceyore e-mails to say that Andy McCarthy was pushing the Machiavellian view of Maliki last week at the Corner.
To me, Maliki is a Dawa apparatchik Islamic fundamentalist. The organization of which he was a high-ranking officer bombed an American embassy (in Kuwait) in 1983. Even though he was an implacable foe of Saddam’s regime, he opposed the U.S. invasion in March 2003. He supports Hezbollah. He favors closer Iraqi ties with Iran and Syria. His alliance with Sadr is not an accident. And, for all the blather about how he is reluctantly deferential to Sadr, I actually think it’s Maliki who is using Sadr, not the other way around.
Maliki’s Dawa party is more adept and just as anti-American as Sadr, but because of Sadr’s blatant opposition to us, Americans have not focused on the history and creed of the Dawa party — indeed, most Americans don’t even realize that there is a Dawa (the “call to Allah”) party, or an Iranian supported party called SCIRI (the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq). Americans have been focused on Sadr and his Mahdi army. Meantime, Sadr is not even the most important Shiite opposition to the U.S. in Iraq, much less the whole problem.
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OK – Its time to snuff this Sadr guy and see how they like that. There will never be peace in that area of the world.
Merry Christmas to all!!
OBX Pete on December 23, 2006 at 7:26 PM
Are we really gonna let this one guy stop the whole process of turning an enemy into an ally? Yes, he’s an important man, yes, he has influence, yes, he’s a shi’ite first, but this thing is bigger than he. Long after he’s dead and buried … or … whatever it is they do with their dead … Iraq will still be a democratic republic.
Tony737 on December 23, 2006 at 7:27 PM
“It’s ethnic cleansing in slow motion, presumably to advance to full speed once we’re out of the way.”
Is it ethnic cleansing, or segregation? It seems like when two ethnicities have trouble living next door to one another without blowing each other up, maybe segregation is a good idea. At least until the all-important question of ‘who has the cooler ancestor from 1,000 years ago’ is answered.
Kevin M on December 23, 2006 at 7:27 PM
Dear President Bush,
Pull your head out of your arse and authorize the strike on Sadr.
Relax the rules of engagement to this: If it is in civilian clothes and carrying a weapon, it gets shot.
Please.
quax1 on December 23, 2006 at 7:36 PM
Kevin, M,
You make a good point.
That is taboo in the United States. If a black person lives next door to a white person in a predominantly white neighborhood, if anything is even claimed by the black person, or by people who are into bean counting and that phenomenon of artificial “diversity,” then the white neighbors, the predominantly white neighborhood, and the entire white population is indicted for discrimination, bigotry, and racism.
This happens even if it is not true.
Nevertheless, if a white person tries to live in a black neighborhood and undergoes harassment, violent attack, racist slurs and threats, we don’t hear it in the media.
In the US we are not supposed to even think about segregating, unless you are of one of the preferred “minorities.” If you do, oh the hail storm that will rain down upon you. Hispanics and blacks have segregated themselves on campuses and elsewhere, and that is totally cool, Okay, and no big deal.
Huh?
So, what we have here is that age old cliche “Do as I say, not as I do.”
The leftists-liberals continuously harped over how those so-called low life Arabs are too stupid, not evolved enough, too backward to appreciate democracy and freedom from Sharia and iron handed rule. They will NEVER go for that Western freedom and liberty stuff.
Now these people think it is okay to do the segregation in and hatred thing in Iraq that is NOT permitted in the US – unless you are of the preferred minorities, then everything is A-Okay.
Double standard!
William
William
William2006 on December 23, 2006 at 7:45 PM
Whack Mookie now.
JammieWearingFool on December 23, 2006 at 7:49 PM
We should have whacked Mookie three years ago.
flipflop on December 23, 2006 at 8:15 PM
Does that come with desegregation busing? You just watch, Iraq will get school vouchers before America does.
Pablo on December 23, 2006 at 8:32 PM
That’s the problem. I’ve been saying that for three years.
JammieWearingFool on December 23, 2006 at 8:35 PM
I’m sure glad this isn’t a war of religion.
Now, if somebody could kindly mention that to everyone else who doesn’t belong to the coalition?
This is a new day with the same old crap all over again. Instead of trying to please the enemies of America, do and achieve what’s best for America.
No matter what that entails.
Speakup on December 23, 2006 at 8:55 PM
Does the President read HotAir? If so…DO IT!
Joe on December 23, 2006 at 9:01 PM
Yep…
Wade on December 23, 2006 at 9:02 PM
Obviously the current trend [possibly the only trend all along] in Iraq is a huge deviation from the Bush doctrine and possibly the failure if same. But the loser could be the benefactor here if the whole middle-east erupts into the war it’s needed for 80 years. Let them kill each other for a while. It wouldn’t last long. Their wars never do. It’s their prejudice that last for ions.
Griz on December 23, 2006 at 11:03 PM
If nominal conservatives like allah are turning into spineless cowardly jellyfish we really have lost the war.
Capitalist Infidel on December 23, 2006 at 11:09 PM
Not that he needs me to defend him, but Allahpundit isn’t a jellyfish by a longshot. He just recognizes that our government doesn’t have the will to go against Sistani. At least overtly.
A false flag op that makes it look like the work of a rival Shi’ite faction is probably the best play. And to make that work probably requires locating a member of such a faction, and bringing him along to play Oswald, down to the detail of making sure one of Mookie’s boys shoots the patsy right after the deed is done, so he doesn’t give up information that could lead to the puppetmasters.
The Monster on December 23, 2006 at 11:26 PM
OK but what about the Saudi factor? Are they going to start fighting in Iraq by proxy like Iran. I say bring Marshall law into effect for ten years. Create a new Iraq without the divisions of the religious sects. Muslim is Muslim period. What, its like the Catholics and Protestants, the hatred runs deep. All in the name of God. Mabey a 12 step program for anger management?
sonnyspats1 on December 24, 2006 at 12:02 AM
Is Sadr any relation to Rosie? Just sayin.
sonnyspats1 on December 24, 2006 at 12:04 AM
I agree with the sentiment. But please remember that Sistani et al. are part of the political process. Debate, negotiation, threats, all a method to acheiving an end. Don’t bite at the bait.
We should have one standard that all Iraqis understand. There is only one authority allowed to use violence and that is the US military and the Iraqis that we approve of. All others who use violence should be dealt with, brutally.
At the risk of getting banned I don’t know how conservative Allah is but I am quite sure he is very squeamish about using force when it could possibly kill civilians. (Ok, I am not at all worried about being banned as long as I keep the conversation relevant and not personal.) Let me remind you of the way Fallujah was handled. I admit I thought we should have let the local forces have a chance to pacify the town. But it was futile and all we did was teach the people in Iraq how to defeat us. Appeal to the American public’s sense of fairness to win retreat.
Fool me once, right? Well they have fooled us a thousand times. Enough to know that there is a large segment of our population that wants the US to fail in Iraq and that these people predominately control the flow of information to the American people.
Does Sistani support this faction or that? Who cares. How many divisions does Sistani have? Better question, where does Sistani go for medical care? I want America to be a fair player in Iraq but part of that is laying down the rules of the game and enforcing those rules with real punishment when they are broken.
Right now that means a completely over the top response to Sadr. Be the irrational referee who makes a call that seems totally unfair in order to take control of the game. Is it going to happen? Of course not. Our country hasn’t felt enough pain, yet.
Man, this sparkingly wine is tasty.
Bill C on December 24, 2006 at 12:07 AM
Muslims can’t live with anyone; not even themselves.
- The Cat
MirCat on December 24, 2006 at 12:11 AM
“sonnyspats1,”
That question raises some interesting ideas.
Everyone loves Rosie. Right?
Rosie says “As a gay woman,” or “As a gay American” as a disclaimer before she once again takes the moral high ground and waxes condescending towards the common folk. Rose must first state her politically correct status as a homosexual-lesbian, one of the preferred, celebrated, advocated groups that you must not dislike or abhor, before she goes on and state her anticipated leftist pabulum.
Once that absolute moral superiority is established, she then goes on to dazzle the masses.
So, here our sweet, darling, wonderful, “Queen of Nice,” Rosie O’Donnel can lead a pack of peace loving, wise, intelligent, kind, compassionate, loving, patient, gentle souls over to Iraq and have a talk with Sistani, al Sadr, al Qaeda’s leader, as well as Ahmedenejad, the works.
The group can include the wonderful, saintly, never said a bad thing about anyone, Rosie O’Donnel herself, of course, as well as Michael Moore, Carmen Diaz, Barbara Streisand, Lindsay Lohan, Scarlett Johansson, Bill Maher, David Letterman, Cindy Sheehan, and a few others, and together they can make peace with the Jihadis, the insurgents, Iranian militants, the works!
The world would be saved!
Hooray!!!!!
William
William2006 on December 24, 2006 at 1:27 AM
Whoever kills off both Maliki and Al Sader both have my support, in fact all of those scum should be burned at the stake… all of them at pure evil..
retired on December 24, 2006 at 1:52 AM
2 men, 1 well tuned rifle, 1 bullet….1 dead Shiite militia leader.
“Ready …. ready …. fire!”
georgej on December 24, 2006 at 3:45 AM
I just looked at this guys picture…would any of you buy a falafal form him or ride in his cab ?
DoctorDentons on December 24, 2006 at 5:58 AM
i missed the part were kirk established “kill ‘em all” as a pillar of “real” conservative thought, so i’m confused by the reaction to ap’s questioning of where this is going.
everyone is now agreed that this is going very poorly, but a few of us think the solutions are leave and be a fag or nuke baghdad like a “real” conservative. i don’t understand that. i don’t understand how anyone could accept a nuke or similar as a “solution.” i don’t see how anyone can envision something like that actually producing a final resolution of things, except to consider that these people literally envision the outcome as the last pannel of a comic book. but i’ve seen enough “muzzies is muzzies – who gives a sh*t” comments here, there and elsewhere to realize that lazy, unprincipled armchair thugs have replaced the thoughtful and moral people who made the argument for this extension of u.s. force.
ap’s questioning how effective any measure would be – overkill or underkill, military or diplomatic, “fag” or “truely conservative” – if the people over there don’t want it. for the “nuke mecca, level the mosques and run” strategists to say that he just lacks the “will” to endorse massive casualties of all varieties is a non sequitur so thick-headed…
ap knows we can’t just leave. he also seems to be one of the shrinking few here who knows there’s there’s no “get it over with” solution. the irony is that it is these “conservatives” who most resemble the antiwar demagogues.
jummy on December 24, 2006 at 6:30 AM
i mean, wtf?
why even type that out?
quick! rush that insight to the oval office!
does that even mean anything? let me explain what that communicates: it shows that you know how to spell sadr and that he’s the bad guy and nothing further. its embarrassing.
what the hell are you talking about?
jummy on December 24, 2006 at 6:52 AM
Jummy: I only do it because it pisses you off…my day is made. Merry Christmas.
DoctorDentons on December 24, 2006 at 8:01 AM
I think the sooner we skip calling this a war against “terror” the better. It’s a war against Islam, or at least it is turning into that. Better we face the fact.
Halley on December 24, 2006 at 8:05 AM
“jimmy,”
In my post which you quote above, I am taking the double standard of segregation and discrimination to task.
In the United States we are told to be diverse and not to segregate and discriminate, yet blacks and Hispanics will segregate themselves in numerous ways, including in dormitory arrangements on college campuses, and this is supported and approved.
Any hint of any kind of animosity among peoples of different races, ethnicity’s, or religious beliefs here is met with condemnation, unless you are of the preferred groups, black, Hispanic, Muslim, homosexual, to name the main groups who are protected under the umbrella of political correctness and who are allowed to dictate to everyone else, but to whom no one can dictate or even just speak.
The leftists, liberals, and a few others, have harped on the claim that Iraqis do not have the breeding, the bearing, the class, the etiquette to live together in harmony, and therefore they must be segregated, that discrimination must be carried on.
This is a double standard. It is taboo in the US save for preferred groups, and it is okay in Iraq because they are just not evolved enough to live together. In fact people think that they need a dictator, like, say, Saddam Hussein, to see to it that all those good little boys and girls in Iraq don’t act like they are acting now.
There is a double standard.
I hope that you understand this now.
William
William2006 on December 24, 2006 at 10:08 AM
There must be a section in the koran that requires islam-fascist to be butt fugly.
EF on December 24, 2006 at 11:00 AM
I guess we have 3 choices. We continue our passive aggressive approach and let the Shia’s use us to dislocate the Sunni’s; We do a little tough love, get everybody mad, tell Sistani to get bent and get rid of Sadr and other militant thugs, risking the whole thing blowing up; or we pull out, as AP suggested. I really had hopes we could turn that country into something, but I guess they want to wallow in old rivalries. What a crappy bit of news at Christmas.
austinnelly on December 24, 2006 at 11:01 AM
Jummy , Hey dude you must have read something else into my attempt at humor. If you go back to the home page and take a gander at the photos of Rosie and Sadr side by side, well it just struck me as humourous. Mabey its a throwback to the stories my mother used tell about the air raids in the battle of Britton. You know the old stiff upper lip, pip pip, cherio and all that rot!I know we are in a very serious state of affairs world wide. I am doing all I can to live my life to repel the onslaught from all the forces trying to pulverize the American way of life. The MSM who is owned as a whole or part by foriegn and subversive elements is a formidable foe. We The People need to get united and take a serious stand in some fashion against all the propaganda from the MSN, the University curriculum,the teachers union, the new world order crowd, the Islamo Facists,all the bozo talking heads,and every retarded hatefull kill whitey crusader that have jumped on the hate America band wagon. Oh lets not forget the pro-abortion crowd,the internet porn crowd, the global warming kooks, the drug cartels,the street gangs,illegal imigrants,the lazy good for nothing air theiving welfare gang,the unscrupulous charity outfits, the UN,small town crooks otherwise known as commissioners,Judges legislating from the bench, and your ordinary run of the mill A-Hole! So I present to you my friend this synopsis as a viable starting point for you to examine. I hope you can find contained within something that could give you a glimmer of light to plot a course of action. A North Star so to speak. In the meantime I will stand on my principals as an individual and look for the guiding light to mark my path.
sonnyspats1 on December 24, 2006 at 12:17 PM
I don’t think there’s any doubt that Sistani has lost faith in America and doesn’t think we can do anything that would change the situation.
He’s looking ahead to our leaving – when he will need Sadr’s guns to fight off an expected push for power by SCIRI and the Badr Organization.
rick moran on December 24, 2006 at 12:22 PM
We go into deportation and colonization mode….
Maybe the South can rise again in the ME?
Tim Burton on December 24, 2006 at 1:27 PM
The Israelis adopted a decapitation strategy several years ago. I believe the strategy is applicable to the global war on terrorism, if globally applied. We have been using it with respect to Al Qaeda in Iraq and Afghaninstan, and I believe it will work if we expand it to include other targets in other countries. I think it should be extended to both the leaders of the Sunni and Shia militia, including Sadr. But I also think it should go even further. If we want peace, we are going to have to go after Iran’s President AND the ruling ayatollahs, and the President and Ba’athist leadership of Syria. They are, after all, the “Houses of Terrorism” in the world.
And after we decapitate their leadership, when they are replaced, we should go after the replacements until they indicate that they intend to stop undermining us in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere: Until they cease their support and leadership of terrorism on the west.
Let we forget, Iran started all of this in 1979 when the current President of Iran led the takeover of our embassy. They escalated it in 1983 when the ordered the destruction of the US embassy in Beirut and the Marine barracks, killing over 200 Americans.
They continued their war against us by ordering and assisting in the destruction of the Khobar Towers, killing another 17.
Iran wants to continue it’s war against us and is doin so by supplying weapons to our enemies in Iraq. They will continue waging war on us especially after they acquire nuclear weapons. So, we should take out their leadership. Now. If they strike back (as they threaten to do), then we should strike their military and civilian infrastructure. Without electricity, dams, oil fields, ports, airport, military bases, oil export income, and a “seat of government” their regime will fall.
As Syria is actively giving aid and comfort to their Ba’athist brothers and Al Qaeda in Iraq, Assad needs to go, too.
WTF, we ARE a superpower and the sooner we act like one in protecting OUR OWN PEOPLE here at home by going after the root of terrorism (Iran in particular), the sooner we will truly be at peace.
As for the minor players (Nasrallah in Lebanon, Hamas, and the Somalian Jihadists) and their movements in Indonesia and the Philippines, when their sponsor in Iran (and Syria) goes under, we can roll them up at our leisure.
The old adage is Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (”if you want peace, prepare for war”). I say, if war is thrust upon you, WAGE IT AND WIN BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
georgej on December 24, 2006 at 3:39 PM
I cannot decide which of the following two images the photo of al Sadr’s face leading this thread most resembles:
1) The rear end of a horse.
2) The face of the creature in Predator – without his mask and helmet on.
3) Linda Blair as the possessed girl in “The Exorcist.”
4) Anakin Skywalker-Darth Vader after his face and body were mutilated by the hot lava flow and his battle with Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, Episode III.
5) A proboscus monkey.
6) A whart hog.
7) A pot bellied pig.
8) A hyena.
9) A video the inside of a colon during a colonoscopy.
10) The mouth of a worm.
11) A gorilla whose face has been mutilated by a meat grinder and burned by nuclear radiation.
William2006 on December 24, 2006 at 5:24 PM
Okay,
So there are eleven images, not two.
Does anyone have any ideas which of those eleven Sadr’s image in the lead-in photo most closely resembles?
No, I don’t think he resembles Baraka Hussein Obama, Micheal Moore – well, maybe a little, Bill Maher – yeah, again, a little, or Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, or John Murtha.
William
William2006 on December 24, 2006 at 5:26 PM
All he wants for Christmas is his one front tooth.
bloggless on December 24, 2006 at 8:22 PM
cannot decide which of the following two images the photo of al Sadr’s face leading this thread most resembles:
1) The rear end of a horse.
William2006 on December 24, 2006 at 5:24 PM Yes we have a winner William except in England its a horses arse on a windy day. As you can well imagine the wind makes a huge difference
sonnyspats1 on December 24, 2006 at 10:43 PM
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