Iraq's Sadr calls for calm, foreign troop pullout

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20279192.htm

DUBAI, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for calm on Sunday following suicide bombings on Shi'ite Muslims and said the first priority after last month's elections should be for occupation forces to leave. snip

Sadr, who led two bloody uprisings against U.S.-led troops in April and August, also told Arab satellite television Al Jazeera that he would not take part in Iraq's political process as long as U.S.-led forces remained. snip

"If elections open the door for the occupier to leave Iraq then it is a good thing. But if that is not the case, it will not have a real effect on the country or on Iraqis," he said.

"As long as the occupier is in Iraq, I will not take part in politics, whether in posts or the drafting of the constitution, because the occupier will intervene in one way or another."

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Up jumped the devil!

[whistle]

1. Polite way of saying to America, "Get the fu*k out of Iraq!"

...so we should leave now, leave all the crap that we took there behind and bring our troops home. Do this before America experiences its own Dunkirk.

[bluestateguy]

2. This guy is more of a pragmatist than people give him credit for

I obviously oppose his religious fundamentalism (I regard all religious fundamentalism as dangerous), but he was willing to deactivate his militia after Sistani stepped in, probably saving many lives on both sides. And he seems to have honored his end of the bargain. I think he is willing to give the US a chance to leave, but that if the US does not leave, and the attacks on Shiites continue, it will only be a matter of time before he reactivates his forces and then we will be fighting a two front war.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Muqtada's playing it smart...

...and hits it right smack on the head:

"I ask all parties to show patience and not to be dragged into the plots of the West which aim to destabilise the country and justify the presence of the occupation."

For a "radical" cleric, he seems to be showing sanity...

[asjr]

4. How in hell did this administration think of

"bringing democracy" to Iraq? That was the last reason he gave when finally he had to admit there were no WMD. He hasn't an inkling of the culture in the mideast. Whether we stay there another month or 3 or 4 more years, when we leave they will do as they want to. If anyone is still alive.

[KlatooBNikto]

6. What Bush and his advisers think of as Democracy is the holding of

Demonstration Elections ( Edward Herman's apt phrase).These elections, as in Iraq, are easily manipulated and give the puppets of Bush a veneer of legitimacy. That is all he is seeking.After he installs Chalabi, all decisions in the New Iraqi Plantation will be made by the massas from Washington, D.C. That is as far removed from Democracy as you can get.

[Vincardog]

11. Funny that sounds like the operation we have here.

[KlatooBNikto]

14. You may say that they are well trained to pull the same act in Iraq too.

[Downtown Hound]

5. This man's father was killed by Saddam

The fact that he's one of our greatest enemies there shows how badly we've failed. If Sistani wasn't constantly positioning himself to take over Iraq then he would be fighting us as well. We really should get the fuck out of there. Iraq right now is an unexploded powder keg. The violence we're seeing right now is nothing compared to what could happen, or what will happen if we stay there.

[KlatooBNikto]

7. Good point. Ali Shistani and Moqtada Al-Sadr think of themselves

as Iraqi patriots first. We still don't know what promises were made to them by Bush to keep the Shiites neutral while the Sunnis were out killing Americans. If the two sides join forces, Bush's excellent Iraqi adventure will meet a violent end.

[aneerkoinos]

10. We know perfectly well

Sistani and Sadr, consciously or not, pulled a classic good cop bad cop routine on US to get power for Shia through elections, which US did not want but was forced to allow.

Now there's talk, just like I predicted, putting Badr corps and Mahdi army and Iraqi Hizbollah plus some other smaller militias together to form new Iraqi army, which is independent of US.

What is now left is the matter of timing (for the call to yankee go home), which requires carefull calculations and and a little more patience.

[Igel]

8. Dang. Like * needs more incentive to keep troops in Iraq.

"As long as the occupier is in Iraq, I will not take part in politics...."

But I find it amazing that it's primarily those with militias and aspirations to power that are so antsy about the US leaving. Must not like the competition.

[Baclava]

9. Can't we just take the oil and leave?

Oh wait - it's all about "freedom" - I forgot...

[LinuxInsurgent]

12. up jumped the devil?

Is that what we call the American Revolutionaries...devils? Because they were as equally nationalistic as Sadr is...and just in case anyone wants to bring the "Sadr's a fundamentalist bastard, not a freedom fighter", let me remind that the American Founders were slave-owning, anti-women voting, pro-white propertied man voting radicals as well.

Sadr is right...his country is under occupation and the people of Iraq should not have to acquiesce to foreign occupation while they form their new occupation.

[NNN0LHI]

13. I was just waiting for some PC minded individual to comment on that

Surprised it took so long. Heh, heh.

Don