Thursday, April 10, 2008
Al Sistani Responds
It was reported earlier this week that Shi'ite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced that he would disband the Mighty Mahdi Army if Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and other clerics in Iran told him to. Then it was reported that he never said that. Then it was reported that the answer was don't disband the band. Despite the apparent contradiction inherent in those two subsequent report, it now appears that Muqtada al-Sadr did indeed consult Ali al-Sistani and here is the Grand Ayatollah's responses:
Not the model of clarity, due no doubt to translation limitations, but I do like that last part. OK, you can keep the band together if you want but you have to give Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki all your weapons. We can all live with that.
Al-Sistani has a clear opinion in this regard; the law is the only authority in the country. The top Shiite cleric had not been consulted in establishing al-Mahdi army, so it could not interfere in dissolving it. Whosoever established the al-Mahdi army has to dissolve it. Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr established this army and it is only him who has to dissolve it. Al-Sistani asked al-Mahdi army to give in weapons to the government.
Not the model of clarity, due no doubt to translation limitations, but I do like that last part. OK, you can keep the band together if you want but you have to give Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki all your weapons. We can all live with that.
Labels: Iraq politics; Moktada al-Sadr
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Who Won the Fighting in Basra and Baghdad?
There were reports from the usual suspects that the Mighty Mahdi Army of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had fought the Iraqi forces to a draw in Basra and had defied the demand from Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki that they put down their weapons. Time reported that the Mahdi Army won in Basra. That Moqtada al-Sadr then asked for a ceasefire tended to undercut that talking point. Austin Bay and Bill Roggio think al Sadr was losing. Now we hear this-- al-Sadr will disband the Mahdi Army if Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and other clerics in Iran tell him to. He's willing to order his fighters to put down their weapons and break up the band if told? Doesn't sound like he had the winning boy's mojo to me.
The masked gunmen in the photo are carrying Kalashnikov RPK light machine guns, a little more hard hitting than the plain old AKM 74s everyone else is using.UPDATE: Allahpundit at Hot Air is reporting (and urging skepticism of the report) that al-Sadr was told, by the clerics he asked, not to disband his militia. I hope that's wrong.
Labels: Disbanding the Band, Iraq politics; Moktada al-Sadr
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Hope for the Mahdi, Mahdi Army
Shi'ite militias under Moqtada al-Sadr have clashed with government forces in Baghdad, Basra and al Kut (where the Brits were humiliated during WWI). Not our government, only the Iraqi government forces are involved (although the Brits control and use the air above). Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has given the militia 72 hours to disarm or face destruction. Peace of course would be better, but this is the Shi'ite dominated government of Iraq fighting Shi'ite militias. Our guys aren't involved.
Unless the civil war mentioned so often by the left in the past years was not the Sunni/Shi'ite affair we all feared, this is certainly not a civil war, more like politics through alternate means. Not the end of the world, not the beginning of unraveling the surge successes. It's more like real hardball politics.
Still wish the Brits hadn't become complete shirkers in their area of operations.
Unless the civil war mentioned so often by the left in the past years was not the Sunni/Shi'ite affair we all feared, this is certainly not a civil war, more like politics through alternate means. Not the end of the world, not the beginning of unraveling the surge successes. It's more like real hardball politics.
Still wish the Brits hadn't become complete shirkers in their area of operations.
Labels: Iraq politics; Moktada al-Sadr
Monday, April 16, 2007
Mookie All In
Moktada al-Sadr, from his secret clubhouse, has played his last political card--he has withdrawn the 6 cabinet members of his party from the coalition government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Malaki. In poker parlance this is known as going all in. He has no political move left, if the al-Malaki government replaces the cabinet members and then ignores him.
Who knows the tensile strength of the backbone of the al-Malaki government? Perhaps this will bring about a change helpful to the radical Shiite cleric. I see it as a bit of a desperation move, not value betting. If he bluffs his way out of politics while the Mahdi militia he controls is fading in the new surge tactics, what power will he have?
Who knows the tensile strength of the backbone of the al-Malaki government? Perhaps this will bring about a change helpful to the radical Shiite cleric. I see it as a bit of a desperation move, not value betting. If he bluffs his way out of politics while the Mahdi militia he controls is fading in the new surge tactics, what power will he have?
Labels: Iraq politics; Moktada al-Sadr
