Tuesday - February 13, 2007
Muqtada al-Sadr Changes Address and Other Good Things in Iraq
Or Mookie to His Friends in Tehran
ABC News is reporting that Muqtada al-Sadr has fled Baghdad and has taken up residence in Iran.
According to senior military officials, al Sadr left Baghdad two to three weeks ago and fled to Tehran, Iran, where he has family.
Al Sadr commands the Mahdi army, one of the most formidable insurgent militias in Iraq, and his move coincides with the announced U.S. troop surge in Baghdad.
Sources believe al Sadr is worried about an increase of 20,000 U.S. troops in the Iraqi capital. One official told ABC News' Martha Raddatz, "He is scared he will get a JDAM [bomb] dropped on his house."
Sources say some of the Mahdi army leadership went with al Sadr.
According to senior military officials, al Sadr left Baghdad two to three weeks ago and fled to Tehran, Iran, where he has family.
Al Sadr commands the Mahdi army, one of the most formidable insurgent militias in Iraq, and his move coincides with the announced U.S. troop surge in Baghdad.
Sources believe al Sadr is worried about an increase of 20,000 U.S. troops in the Iraqi capital. One official told ABC News' Martha Raddatz, "He is scared he will get a JDAM [bomb] dropped on his house."
Sources say some of the Mahdi army leadership went with al Sadr.
Satan has a few thoughts on the al-Sadr saga. President Bush and his advisors mucked this whole situation up. Muqtada should be here in Hell with me right now, going on 4 years. He would have had his 72 virgins, who would have all sounded and looked like Rosy O'Donnell and Roseanne Barr. The decision not to destroy him and his followers was, in hindsight, a sign that Bush and company knew how to win a war, but had no idea how to win the peace in Iraq.
That being said, it is quite obvious the al-Sadr fled to Iran because of the new U.S. troop surge. Even to the disloyal left, it should be obvious the new, get tough initiative, implemented by General Petraeus, is starting to show some results.
Muqtada al-Sadr's decision to move to Iran should also make it plan that this "civil war" in Iraq is a little more complicated. That he fled to Iran, that the Iranians are allowing him to stay, and that the Iranians are allowing him to direct his followers from Tehran, point to the fact that Iranians have been stirring the Sunni/Shiite pot in Iraq.
Observant students of all things Iraq probably could have predicted al-Sadr's retreat when his top aide was arrested some three weeks ago.
U.S. and Iraqi forces swooped into a mosque complex in east Baghdad on Friday and detained a top aide to radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the latest in a series of operations aimed at eviscerating the leadership of the Mahdi Army militia.
The raid drew immediate criticism from the Iraqi government, which complained it had not been consulted. An aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who owes his job as Iraqi leader to al-Sadr's backing, said the operation was not part of a coming joint U.S.-Iraq security drive.
Under the plan, to which President Bush has committed an additional 21,500 American troops, U.S. commanders have been promised a freer hand against both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militiamen.
"There was no coordination with the Iraqi political leadership and this arrest was not part of the new security plan," Sadiq al-Rikabi, the al-Maliki adviser, told Al-Arabiya television. "Coordination with the Iraqi political leadership is needed before conducting such operations that draw popular reactions."
Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji was captured in the early morning raid and his bodyguard was killed in what Abdul-Zahra al-Suweiadi, a senior al-Sadr aide, called a "cowardly act." Al-Sadr's office said al-Darraji was media director for the cleric's political movement and demanded his immediate release.
"America is playing with fire and our patience is beginning to fade," said Abdul-Razzaq al-Nidawi, an al-Sadr aide in the Shiite holy city of Najaf. "This savage barbarian act will not pass peacefully."
It seems this raid and arrest was a wake up call not only to al-Sadr, but to his allies and protectors within the Iraqi government. Muqtada seems to have read the hand writing on the wall and figured that living was preferable to the theoretical 72 virgins.
Finally, it seems that the U.S. and the Iraqi government intend to keep al-Sadr out of the country, with this announcement:
Iraqi authorities announced last night that the country is to close its land borders with Syria and Iran and extend the night-time curfew in Baghdad as part of the much-heralded security plan to stop insurgents in the capital and the volatile Anbar province to the west.
Satan also sees this move as a two-edged sword. This is something that should have been done four years ago and it simply astounds Satan that the U.S. is finally getting around to closing the borders. Satan, as much as he liked Rumsfeld, wonders if he wasn't the wrong man for the reconstruction effort in Iraq. Is the difference Mr. Gates?
Trackposted to
Blue Star Chronicles,
Conservative Cat,
Conservative Thoughts, basil's
blog, and Pursuing
Holiness, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.