Now You Sadr, Now You Don’t
Last week, al-Sadr promised a million Shiite march for today’s anniversary of the statue being pulled down. Today, that’s been cancelled, because Sadr is concerned about the shedding of Iraqi blood. He always is, when there’s any chance it might be his own. Two days ago, al-Sadr was offering to stand down, if al-Sistani and other top Shiites told him to. His people claim they said no. And yesterday, he was threatening to call off the ceasefire, such as it is. Al-Sadr has learned he can go a long way on bluster and brinksmanship.
The big media storyline in the past week or so has been uptick in violence jeopardizing the newfound security. As usual, it’s a numbers game, and as usual, it’s a flawed one. And as usual, it misses the point. Iraq will not be stable or secure as long as large Iranian-controlled militias are allowed to exist in Iraq. U.S. interests in the area will not be served or secure, and the task of U.S. troops in Iraq will remain unfinished.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:12 am on Wednesday, April 9, 2008
3 Responses to “Now You Sadr, Now You Don’t”
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April 9th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
The national government needs to keep constant pressure on al-Sadr, continue to limit his options and marginalize him. And at this point, that seems to be what they are intent on doing.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
He’s another Saddam wannabe. They should jail him, try him for treason and hang him. Just because he went to Islamic seminary doesn’t justify him in running a terrorist group aimed at his fellow Iraqis, even if they are Sunnis. His Mahdi Army is as guilty of crimes against humanity as the Ba’athists.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Jules, have you ever considered that al-Hakim’s proxies in the Badr Organization are, themselves, assisted by Iran, and that Nuri al-Maliki spent his adult years seeking to overthrow the Baath first in Iran, then Syria?
Al-Sadr, his uncle and father stayed inside Iraq, cultivating a national underground movement to fight the Hussein regime. Moqtada arose from the clandestine cells in Najaf and Saddam City (today Sadr City) without Iranian help.
Iran has played many different militias against the US-led Coalition and ISF and each other for several years, including helping some Sunni gangs. The various Sadrist militias, many of which aren’t controlled by Sadr (and Islamic Virtue, which pays homage to his uncle and father, but not him) don’t have a monopoly on Iranian influence.
To put it mildly.