| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"You Will Submit To Allah Or DIE!!" |
| Date: |
30 Aug 2007 12:14:49 AM |
| Object: |
Proof Iraq surge working: Moqtada al Sadr cease-fire |
Yep, his forces are crushed! He needs to regroup! We got him on the
run!!! We should kill him now while he is weak!!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/30/wiraq130.xml
Moqtada al-Sadr announces ceasefire in Iraq
By Damien McElroy
Last Updated: 2:11am BST 30/08/2007
British commanders in Basra reacted cautiously last night to a claim
by the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that he has ordered his
militia to suspend offensive operations for six months.
# Frontline: Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
If it is enforced, the ceasefire could improve the chances of an
orderly withdrawal of British forces from southern Iraq.
"We don't know how real this is and I suspect it will take some
significant time to see if violence against us does diminish as a
result," said Major Mike Shearer, a spokesman for British Forces.
"One complicating factor is that malign interests here are faceless at
the street level. They don't exactly wear uniforms so we can't always
tell who is responsible for what comes at us."
Sadr announced yesterday that an order to stand down had been
distributed to his loyalists following the deaths of more than 50 Shia
Muslim pilgrims during sectarian fighting in the holy city of Karbala
on Tuesday.
The surprise statement regarding his notorious Mahdi army, which is
responsible for much of Iraq's sectarian blood-letting, not only
caught British and American commanders off-guard but appeared to have
surprised Baghdad officials too. Mowaffak al-Rubbaie, Iraq's national
security adviser, said Baghdad would only welcome the move if Sadr's
lieutenants stop attacks and their attempts to "blow up" the Iraqi
government.
"I will see on the ground what is going to happen," he said. "It is
good news if it is true. If it happens it will reduce violence in the
country a great deal."
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With large parts of the Mahdi army beyond Sadr's control, the prospect
of intra-Shia violence spiralling out of control has grown.
The militia has waged factional battles with rival Shia groups across
Iraq in recent weeks. The extent of Shia against Shia fighting has
raised questions over the 34-year-old cleric's grip over his
loyalists. Sadr acted to dispel tensions hours after Baghdad was
forced to impose a curfew on Karbala and order hundreds of thousands
of worshippers out of the city.
"I direct the Mahdi army to suspend all its activities for six months
until it is restructured in a way that helps honour the principles for
which it is formed," Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in
the nearby city of Najaf.
Witnesses said Sadr's followers had attacked members of the rival
Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) with knives and other weapons.
Iraqi security forces and guards at Karbala's shrines opened fire into
the crowds. The clashes left at least 52 dead and 300 more wounded.
Sadr aides initially denied his followers were involved in the
fighting.
The group later called for an investigation into the circumstances of
the violence. "The investigations should be just and neutral so that
the tragedy would not occur again," the statement said.
Sadr also called on his loyalists not to attack rival parties'
offices.
"We call on all Sadrists to observe self-restraint, to help security
forces control the situation and arrest the perpetrators and sedition
mongers, and urge them to end all forms of armament in the sacred
city," said the statement.
"We call on Sadrists not to target the offices of political parties
all over Iraq and the SIIC's offices in Sadr city [Baghdad's large
Shia district loyal to Sadr] in particular." Five rival offices in
Baghdad and Babel have been attacked and set on fire in the past two
days.
The Pentagon has identified Sadr's militia as the biggest threat to
stability in the war-ravaged country, even ahead of the Iraqi al-
Qa'eda network. But analysts have also pinpointed the rise of a series
of powerful "special groups" that have sprung from the militia and are
believed to be beyond Sadr's control.
One such group is believed to have been behind the audacious
kidnapping of four British security contractors and a computer expert
snatched from an Iraqi government building.
Sadr's own behaviour has become increasingly erratic. He reacted to
the United States surge to stabilise central Iraq by fleeing to Iran.
Most of his fighters in the capital are reported to have disappeared
to avoid the military crackdown and taken shelter in Shia-dominated
southern Iraq.
Asked if the unexpected order meant no attacks on American troops, as
well as a ban on Shia infighting, a senior Sadr aide said: "All kinds
of armed actions are to be frozen, without exception."
Another aide said: "The aim is to remove bad members who are involved
in the Mahdi army and working for their personal interests... to hurt
the Mahdi army's reputation."
The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, flew to Karbala yesterday
and announced that his forces had restored order in the city, which is
70 miles south of Baghdad.
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