(AP) Al-Sadr: Baghdad Security Plan Is Doomed

[Eugene]

Al-Sadr: Baghdad Security Plan Is Doomed
Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr says U.S. security plan for Baghdad
is doomed to failure

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 25, 2007
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN Associated Press Writer

(AP) The leader of Iraq's biggest Shiite militia complained Sunday that bombs
"continue to explode" in Baghdad and that U.S.-led security crackdown is
doomed to fail, issuing a statement the same day a suicide attacker struck
outside a college campus, killing at least 41 people.

Many Shiites believe that bombings have continued because the Shiite-led
government bowed to American pressure and persuaded the radical cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr to take his Mahdi Army fighters off the streets.

Al-Sadr's statement, read to his followers in Sadr City, is likely to add
pressure on U.S. and Iraqi forces to show results in the nearly two-week-
old crackdown.

"I'm certain, just like all oppressed Iraqis are certain, that no security
plan will work and no good will come of any occupier," al-Sadr said in the
statement. "Here we are, watching booby trapped cars exploding to
harvest thousands of innocent lives from our beloved people in the middle
of a security plan that is controlled by an occupier who does as he pleases."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/25/ap/world/mainD8NGSRA00.shtml

[knowbody0]

1. word

[maddezmom]

2. AFP: Sadr calls on Iraqi forces not to work with US

~snip~
On Sunday, Shiite cleric Abdulzahra al-Suweidi read a purported statement from his leader to a 1,000-strong crowd of cheering supporters in Sadr City, a bastion of Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in east Baghdad.

"I say to the Iraqi security forces, police and army: 'You are able to protect Iraq and the Iraqi people with your faith, your sacrifice, and your patience and your unity'," Sadr said, according to the document.

"You don't need the occupiers with their tanks and their planes."

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070225/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestsadr_070225145840


Al-Sadr’s motives under microscope
The Shiite cleric’s recent action against two of his militia leaders leaves the question: Why?


BAGHDAD, Iraq | Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite Muslim cleric who founded the Mahdi Army militia, discovered recently that two of his commanders had created DVDs of their men killing Sunnis in Baghdad.

Documents suggested that they had received money from Iran. So he suspended them and stripped them of power, said two Mahdi leaders in the Sadr City slum of Baghdad that is the heart of al-Sadr’s support.

But did he do so as part of his cooperation with the new security plan for Baghdad, which aims to quell the sectarian violence? Because his men had been disloyal, taking orders from Iran, whose support he values but whose control he fights? Or was it just for show — the act of an image-conscious leader who grasped the risk of graphic videos and ties to Tehran and wanted to stave off direct U.S. action against him?

Al-Sadr has been the great destabilizer in Iraq since 2003, wielding power on the streets and in the ruling Shiite bloc, thwarting the Americans and playing out at least a temporary alliance with Iran.

more:http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/special_packages/iraq/16777841.htm?source=rss&channel=kansascity_iraq

[rodeodance]

5. "Any security plan led by the enemy occupier can do no good for Iraqis,"

.........There are persistent reports Sadr has given Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki the green light to arrest rogue elements of his organisation but that he and senior Mahdi Army commanders are lying low to avoid arrest.

Sadr's party says publicly that it supports Maliki's security plan, but the statement on Sunday showed that the movement remains firmly opposed to the ongoing participation of tens of thousands of US troops.

"Any security plan led by the enemy occupier can do no good for Iraqis," Sadr's statement said, to loud acclaim and shouts of "Moqtada is a bridge to heaven" from the crowd.

"God will protect you from their evils. Make your plan an independent Iraqi plan to be victorious," the statement said. "You have the credibility to protect Iraqis and the plan is honorable. Beware of treachery."

Sadr repeated his demand for a timetable for a rapid American withdrawal for Iraq and urged Sunnis and Shiites to unite. "Let the shedding of Iraqi blood be forbidden," the statement said, according Suweidi.

[Kagemusha]

6. This isn't multiple choice. There can be more than one motive.

Like punishing insubordination, when you get down to it.

[maddezmom]

7. agree, I'm sure they all played a part in it

One thing is certain, nothing in Iraq is black and white.:hi:

[truthisfreedom]

3. bush/cheney once again validating Al-Queda's strategy.

[rodeodance]

4. "leaders have urged the public to be patient,_-----may take MONTHS>

U.S. and Iraqi leaders have urged the public to be patient, warning that it will take months before the security operation shows results.
President Bush has ordered 21,500 more U.S. troops to Baghdad and surrounding areas, although the last units are not due until May.

Al-Sadr urged Iraq's mostly Shiite security forces to "make your own Iraqi plans independent of the Americans."

Most of the victims of Sunday's bombing were students at the college, a business studies annex of Mustansiriyah University that was hit by a series of deadly explosions last month. At least 46 people were injured in Sunday's blast.

The suicide attacker detonated a bomb-rigged belt near the main entrance to the college, where students were resuming midterm exams after the two-day weekend in Iraq. Police said that guards confronted the bomber as he tried to enter the college grounds.

[Recursion]

8. Ah, crap...

I mean, we didn't need Sadr's support or anything... er... well...