Ayatollah Sistani Told Moqtada Al-Sadr to Bear the Consequences Of Attacks Against Him or Withdraw

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NEWSWEEK: Ayatollah Sistani Told Moqtada Al-Sadr to Bear the Consequences Of Attacks Against Him or Withdraw into a Corner, Says Aide
Sunday March 4, 1:12 pm ET
Sadr Likely in Iran; Has Been Absent From Friday Sermons for Three Weeks, Not Seen in Public


NEW YORK, March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Iraqi leader Moqtada al-Sadr, alarmed at the new security plan by U.S. forces which was launched on Feb. 14, had an 11 p.m. meeting with Ayatollah Sistani about a month ago, according to an aide to the grand ayatollah, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with practice in the cleric's office. "He asked the sayyid what he should do about the attacks against him, and told him, 'You have two options: bear the consequences, on you and Shias in general, or withdraw into a corner'," Newsweek reports in the current issue.

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Silence of the Sadrists
So far the Mahdi Army is lying low. But for how long?

By Rod Nordland
Newsweek

March 12, 2007 issue - Early in the latest u.s. and Iraqi attempt to bring peace to Baghdad, one high-ranking Iraqi official included Moqtada al-Sadr in his prayers. "Allah, lo yehdih, lo yedahdih," he prayed, a pun that roughly translates as "Allah, show him the way, or kick him aside." As far as the official, who would only speak anonymously, is concerned, his prayer has been answered. Sadr has all but disappeared from the Iraqi scene the past three weeks, and Sadr's Mahdi Army has been notably quiet, too. Officially, the Iraqi government is attributing that to the new Baghdad security plan, part of a surge of forces that will eventually include 21,500 new American troops. But this official says what's really happening is the taming of Moqtada.

The U.S. military announced plans to set up a base inside Shia-dominated Sadr City only late last week. Most U.S. reinforcements are still en route. Yet despite an upsurge in suicide bombings by Sunni extremists, mostly aimed at Shia civilians, the number of reprisal killings is down dramatically since the security plan was launched on Feb. 14. Human Rights Minister Wijdan Salim said last week that "sectarian killings have dropped to a fourth what they had been , a very big decline." The senior Iraqi official credits pressure on Sadr from his former patrons in Iran, as well as from Ayatollah Sistani and the Marjaiyah, the Shia clerical leadership in Najaf. He says Iran is withholding military advice and aid to Sadrists as well as other rogue elements, and leaning on them to stop the killings. "Sadr is convinced that there's no real outcome of this struggle, and backfired," he says.

Washington takes a less sanguine view of Iran's role in Iraq. U.S. military authorities have publicized a series of weapons seizures in recent days, including material for making the deadly "explosively formed projectiles," or EFPs, bombs allegedly of Iranian origin that can penetrate armored vehicles. But Iranian officials have publicly supported the Baghdad security plan, and have agreed to join a regional conference on Iraq's future with the United States and other nations. "Iran's strategy is to strengthen and support the central government in Iraq," says a senior Iranian intelligence official who asked for anonymity because of his line of work, "when and how it sees appropriate."

more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17438996/site/newsweek/