I say take him out also. His forces are more splintered and hes a bit weaker.

but dont do it overtly. The Sunni in Iraq hate him as much as we do. They know Mookie is head of the death squads they unleashed on them.

A simple car bomb made to look like a iraqi suicide bomber. Nothing simpler.

William Amos on May 25, 2007 at 12:09 PM

Yup yup..make him deader than a doornail..no question.

Sign of the Antichrist?

(Plus the cavities on his front teeth look suspiciously like 666!)

I have no idea whether or not Stratfor is considered a reliable source, but here’s an excerpt with their take on that question:

Al-Sadr’s resurfacing could only have been made possible by a deal worked out between the United States and Iran in which Washington assured Tehran that al-Sadr would be on the U.S. military’s “no touch” list. Though al-Sadr’s movement has traditionally kept its distance from the Iranian clerical regime, priding itself on being an Iraqi nationalist movement rather than another Iranian proxy, the Iranians managed to use the security crackdown in Iraq to bring the radical leader under their umbrella.

An integral part of the framework of negotiations developing between Iran and the United States over Iraq involves a guarantee by the Iranians that they can rein in Iraq’s Shiite militia groups to help quell sectarian bloodshed in the country. To make good on this promise, Iran needed to make al-Sadr dependent on Tehran for protection so that Iran could call in the favor when its negotiations with the United States advanced to a point where both sides would need to stop talking and start acting.

The longer al-Sadr remained in Iran, however, the greater the risk that his movement would implode and he would no longer be able to control his various commanders, who already operate independently for the most part. To be able to purge his militia of all the renegade elements, al-Sadr needed to step back into the picture — and there was no better time than now, when the United States and Iran are forging ahead with direct negotiations to create a settlement on Iraq.

Unfortunately, their link to the “framework of negotiations” takes you to subscriber only content, but maybe someone else with access could check it out.

Meanwhile, some of Odierno’s sources are telling him Sadr might be ready to negotiate with the U.S. secretly. Really? What would be negotiating? A transfer of power?

Allah do you really think Sadr strings aren’t being pulled by someone? Id he really some Machiavellian Islamic genius?

See-Dub thinks it’s time to take him out. I don’t know how you could do that at this point, though, without risking a Shiite uprising that would make things so tough for U.S. troops that Congress would rush to pull the plug. The time to get him was in 2004. We blew it.

While I agree we blew it in 2004 by not taking Mookie out, I still think we should do it now, even at the risk of a Shiite uprising. I don’t know for certain what was the reasoning for not taking him out in 2004, but I suspect there was fear of a Shiite uprising then as well. If we are afraid to take out someone like Mookie who is dedicated to destabilizing the situation for fear of a Shiite uprising, then we are conceding defeat.

Take him and his army out. Do it quick, do it with extreme prejudice, and send a message that we are not screwing around anymore. If Iraqi Shiites at large cannot accept that, then it’s clear they are not dedicated to a peaceful, stable democracy in the first place and, like Mookie, are only waiting us out.

Thank you Allah for not using the “Smiling Mookie” pix.

KelliD on May 25, 2007 at 12:45 PM

Ditto – the dental horror that is that picture is too much to take sometimes.

Not good news. Not unless we do what needs, finally, to be done. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months on Friday, delivering a fiery anti-American sermon to thousands of followers and demanding……

Gen. Odierno told WaPo that he thinks Sadr came back partly because there are “cracks” in the Mahdi Army that need repairing;

We need to open a new crack – in Mookie’s head.

See-Dub thinks it’s time to take him out. I don’t know how you could do that at this point, though, without risking a Shiite uprising that would make things so tough for U.S. troops that Congress would rush to pull the plug. The time to get him was in 2004. We blew it.

I couldn’t disagree more, except for the “we blew it” part. See-Dub is right. It’s never too late and never wrong to take out someone who is challenging a democratically-elected government through threat of armed resistance.

Would we risk a Shiite uprising? Yes, and this where the Iraqi government begins work on a political settlement with Sadrist leaders who’d rather be free than be brought to justice.

Would Congress pull the plug? I’d expect nothing less from the usual cowards and traitors we’d expect to hear from, however many in Congress have been arguing all along that Al Sadr is impeding progress in Iraq.

According to al-Reuters, this freak is powerful. If that’s the case, why has he been in hiding so long, likely in Iran?…

but dont do it overtly. The Sunni in Iraq hate him as much as we do. They know Mookie is head of the death squads they unleashed on them.

A simple car bomb made to look like a iraqi suicide bomber. Nothing simpler.