Sadr to US troops: Let’s dance
posted at 8:02 pm on April 8, 2007 by Bryan
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The renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraqi forces to stop cooperating with the United States and told his guerrilla fighters to concentrate their attacks on American troops rather than Iraqis, according to a statement issued Sunday.
The statement, stamped with al-Sadr’s official seal, was distributed in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Sunday — a day before a large demonstration there, called for by al-Sadr, to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
“You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don’t walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy,” the statement said. Its authenticity could not be verified.
In the statement, al-Sadr — who commands an enormous following among
Iraq’s majority Shiites and has close allies in the Shiite-dominated government — also encouraged his followers to attack only American forces, not fellow Iraqis.
This looks to me like a bid to reunite his fragmenting army by giving them a common infidel enemy to fight. And that enemy would be us. Secondarily, he probably wants to unite all Iraqis to fight against the US under his banner. That ain’t happening. He doesn’t have that kind of clout.
Our troops have had a hands-off approach to al-Sadr for far too long, due to his dual status as both an armed rabble-rouser and a legitimate politician. But if he has now decided that his forces will exclusively attack Americans, he’s putting his entire army and himself back in the US crosshairs. The sooner we deal with him now that he has declared war on us, the better.
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Does this mean we’re allowed to wack Mookie now?
The Monster on April 8, 2007 at 8:04 PM
Does this mean that, just like the last time Mookie was busy murdering U.S. servicemen, Bush is going to go all fire and brimstone on his arse, promising to “bring him to justice”, only to change his mind a few weeks later?
Or is it going to be a replay of Falluja, where he got all fire and brimstone on… Well, you know the drill.
*Yawn.*
Wake me up when Weenie McBushy suddenly means what he says.
I suspect that I’ll be seeing pigs flying by the window and Satan skiing around the same time.
Misha I on April 8, 2007 at 8:11 PM
“Archenemy?” What? Does he think he’s Lex Luthor or something?
robblefarian on April 8, 2007 at 8:14 PM
If we come down on him hard and fast with a crushing victory over his organization, it would be more than just a tactical and strategic victory, it would give Iraqi’s and insurgents the perception of us being the dominant force. And that would keep paying dividends. I hope we play this up and then strike decisively.
Then again, it would reiterate the lesson that you shouldn’t take us on militarily…and teaching the enemy lessons is never a good thing, but for Mookie I hope we’ll oblige.
thelinyguy on April 8, 2007 at 8:15 PM
Question: What is stopping the United States from using the “Heavy Hand” to aggresssively search and destroy these enemies? Why is the United States tolerating Iraqi government participation with Sadr in his actions?
omegaram on April 8, 2007 at 8:22 PM
Answer: Bush suffers from terminal a-testicularity.
Misha I on April 8, 2007 at 8:25 PM
Whack Mookie now!
Why oh why is he still alive?
JammieWearingFool on April 8, 2007 at 8:38 PM
Shiia elements in the Iraqi government stepped in to protect mookie. This time Mookie has alot less clout trying to call shots from Iran.
As always with islamic fanatics fighting and dying are only for the peons not the leadership.
William Amos on April 8, 2007 at 8:38 PM
Time to level Mookie and his city. Fire up the jets. Show no mercy.
Wade on April 8, 2007 at 8:44 PM
Good question . . . I suspect madame Pelosi will be
interfering once again or Harry Reid will. I love
to see GW put blinders and earmuffs on and just let
our military be military for a while.
Texyank on April 8, 2007 at 8:53 PM
Lets talk it out. Peace through negotiations. Can’t we all get along.
Bailiff, wack him now and wack him again.
Maybe some Taliban justice, take him to a soccer field.
Kini on April 8, 2007 at 9:00 PM
Looks like Bin Laden might be getting a partner for two-handed solitaire.
pocomoco on April 8, 2007 at 9:16 PM
Time to do the Mookie shuffel and stomp!
dallas94 on April 8, 2007 at 9:18 PM
Well, there you go.
Clear evidence that Sadr is an enemy combatant.
Legally, that’s all we need. Green-light to air strike.
Jones Zemkophill on April 8, 2007 at 9:32 PM
Let’s see how tomorrow turns out. (it’s almost tomorrow there now). I am not sure Sadr has a lot of pull anymore. His last call for protests resulted in only a token response from one mosque. The guy is hiding in Iran. People in Iraq know that when he talks, it is Iran talking. Lets see how things go before we get ourselves all spun up.
crosspatch on April 8, 2007 at 9:32 PM
Who is this guy? Does he think he lives in a comic strip?
RightWinged on April 8, 2007 at 9:41 PM
Warning Nuke
- The Cat
MirCat on April 8, 2007 at 9:51 PM
Personally, I ALWAYS like to fight on more than one level.
#1 We (the US and Iraq) sieze any and all assets even distantly connected with Al Sadr.
#2 We sieze and/or level any Sadr controled facility that is focused on military or paramilitary activities.
#3 We capture/kill Al-Sadr as he has declared himself to be an enemy combatant and has issued a declaration of war upon the United States.
#4 We do the same to any person actively supporting Sadr.
Jones Zemkophill on April 8, 2007 at 9:56 PM
I’m all for turning the mahdi into strawberry JAM, but – I’m beginning to wonder if the Iraqis as a whole are ultimately capable of making a legitimate government work. Our victory depends on enough of them doing what it takes to make a better country for “They the People.” I fear they may be too corrupt and immoral to use the gift they’ve been given. I’m all for sticking it out, but if they can only be ruled by a murderous dictator we’ll have to accept that reality if/when it happens. If so, next time we have to invade an arab country…I won’t say it…yet.
Buck Turgidson on April 8, 2007 at 9:59 PM
1. We should let the Iraqi army take out al-Sadr and his terrorists. We can do air support.
2. Then we need to send Pelosi to arrange a peace deal with Bin Laden. (Are there any other terrorists that Pelosi/Reid have not talked to yet?)
3. Was the Syria trip Pelosi’s first official trip as Speaker? Odd choice, for the nation’s top Democrat to visit one of our enemies on her first trip outside the US.
faraway on April 8, 2007 at 10:19 PM
‘NATIONAL NUCLEAR DAY’ DECLARED IN IRAN
Let’s dance. Put on your red shoes and dance the blues. Let’s dance to the song they’re playin’ on the radio.
Let’s sway while color lights up your face …
TheBigOldDog on April 8, 2007 at 10:20 PM
That son-of-c**ksuking bastard should have been wacked way back in 03′ when they had his ass in that mosque and he was ushered away carvan style by UN vehicles. I was livid then and nuclear now. I wonder how Petraeus is going to handle this in his new command for the area. He’s playing a lot of war politics himself. What a job to try to corale two of the craziest whack groups in Iraq.
I fear to say that with all of the ‘misteps’ that were done in the last 3 years alone we probably could have saved a least a 1,000 of our soldiers. Damn good men too.
auspatriotman on April 8, 2007 at 11:00 PM
Everything I’ve read and heard suggests that under Petraeus we have gone on the offensive including directly hitting the Iranians. So chances are good Mookie’s number is up. Because he has attacked fellow Iraqis I’m sure sympathy for him (and hence his value as a martyr) is low. Maybe that’s why he’s directed his goons to stop hitting fellow Iraqis.
TheBigOldDog on April 8, 2007 at 11:10 PM
The media is also going to play this up to be bigger than it might really be. The events in Najaf have been planned for some time. Mookie is taking advantage of the moment and our press is taking advantage of Mookie’s taking advantage. Lets see how it actually comes off and try not to buy into the media hype that might possibly be nothing more than that.
crosspatch on April 8, 2007 at 11:45 PM
See what happens when Captain America gets killed off????
Our ARCHENEMIES attack!!!
Romeo13 on April 9, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Ditto, Bryan… good call.
MsUnderestimated on April 9, 2007 at 12:07 AM
WTF? Kill him!
PinkyBigglesworth on April 9, 2007 at 12:34 AM
Notice the weasel word qualifier placed in the story by the Enemy Press AP? We won’t do anything about him because the usual suspects will claim he didn’t write this, President Bush and Rove made it all up to kill an innocent man.
Pretty much count on nothing happening. Except more dead American troops….
ScottG on April 9, 2007 at 1:13 AM
Can’t we just send Madame Speaker over to talk to him? Err…I mean, can’t she send herself over there to talk to him? If not her, what about Sean Penn? Surely, we can avoid violence…no??
SARCASM
Rick on April 9, 2007 at 1:17 AM
Bad Move Indeed, Mookie. Because you are an inbred retard, you scurried to Iran to get advice from the same people that want to rule over you. What a tool you are. Another example of sending others out while you hide like the coward that all of the so called “leaders” of the jihad are. If the going gets tough, the cowards run. Pussy.
R D on April 9, 2007 at 1:59 AM
Well, it’s about 10:30 am Baghdad time and I am seeing a lot of media reports trying to fan the flames of unrest but I am not seeing any reports of Mullahs Gone Wild in Najaf yet.
crosspatch on April 9, 2007 at 2:38 AM
Ya’ll are forgetting that in the Bush-Clinton-Bush era ( soon to be Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton? ), America does not kill its enemies, it negotiates with them–after trying to understand them, and showing Empathy & Compassion & Great Patience.
It’s the era of forbearance, not vengeance; we don’t kick ass & take names, we seek consensus & triangulation
I predict more negotiation, all the while hoping I’m wrong
Janos Hunyadi on April 9, 2007 at 2:38 AM
Okay, after reading through some Iraqi news sites things look a little clearer about what is going on and why Mookie has his panties in a twist.
It seems that most of his honchos fled Sadr City when we started the crackdown in Baghdad. One of the places they went was Diwaniya. Now there are two different Shiite political blocs and Sadr’s rival bloc is SCIRI who is backing us right now in this surge thingy. The SCIRI folks are the Badr militia people. So you have Badr and Sadr. So about three days ago we launched an operation in Diwaniya and started cracking on al Sadr’s Sadr Army. So Sadr gets pissed, supposedly (but not confirmed) sacked his representatives to the assembly (35 seats), issued a statement against the Americans and called for protests.
So it looks like SCIRI decided to play the game and Sadr didn’t so we are disrupting the Sadr influence in the region South of Baghdad which would also act to prevent them from heading back into Sadr City in Baghdad and stirring up trouble there. In the meantime, with Sadr’s groups weakened, SCIRI can possibly spread their influence in the region.
So far I have not heard of any major violence associated with the Najaf rally. So basically it looks like most of this is designed to further marginalize al Sadr and help a somewhat more moderate group expand their control.
A lot of this comes from reading several different sources but a key source is this article from Azzaman.
crosspatch on April 9, 2007 at 4:14 AM
Mookie thinks the US will go all British and surrender without a fight. And the way things are, I have to wonder the same thing. Sad, aint it?
Booo on April 9, 2007 at 7:56 AM
If there’s one thing we should have learned from our time in Iraq, it’s that power, force and merciless savagery are the most valued virtues in the Middle East. al-Sadr needs to be “liquidated” … publically and violently. Anything from a .50 cal sniper shot to any size JDAM will do.
darwin on April 9, 2007 at 9:22 AM
Perhaps Pelosi should have a “sit down” with Mookie.
maintenanceman on April 9, 2007 at 10:56 AM
Thanks for the rundown Crosspatch. You have a way of making the complicated simple.
Tony737 on April 9, 2007 at 11:09 AM
You also have to understand that Sadr is prossibly a larger personality in the US press than he is inside Iraq at the moment. The press seems bent on playing him up to be some kind of larger than life boogieman but neglect to mention that there are other Shiite factions in play and some (such as SCIRI) are larger than Sadr’s. These blocs also have a lot of sway inside places like Sadr City. Mookie isn’t the only player, nor may he be major player at this point. The last time he called for demostrations, there was one feeble protest from the congregation of one mosque. Just take what you read in the press with the usual grain of salt.
crosspatch on April 9, 2007 at 1:42 PM
Sadr reminds me of Hitler during his final days in Germany. Just like Hitler, Sadr is issuing nonsensical commands to nonexistent forces (does he really think that any of his fighters that haven’t been killed or captured have the capabilities to successfully attack American forces?) and thinks that, with the help of the Iraqi people, he will drive out the invader and prevail. It didn’t work for Hitler and it won’t work for Sadr.
RedinBlueCounty on April 9, 2007 at 1:55 PM
One of the better messages that we could give Iran is to kill al-Sadr. He has changed his tune to favor attacking the American troops because he is in league with the Iranian radicals, and the Iranian radicals are feeling emboldened by having gotten away with the seizure of the Brit sailors and Marines.
Phil Byler on April 9, 2007 at 4:31 PM
So it is now nearly 2am Tuesday Baghdad time. Apparently there was no massive uprising against US troops today. Many Iraqis were heard to have said “Moqtada who?”. There is great disappointment this evening at AP, NYT, LAT, and WaPo.
crosspatch on April 9, 2007 at 5:44 PM
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