Yup........The Terrorist Structure is FALLING APART in Iraq........And
the "Surge" Troops AREN'T FULLY IN PLACE YET.......Ain't It
AMAZING?..........THANK YOU, PRESIDENT
BUSH!!............Heehee............

"Al-Sadr Reappears, Says U.S. Must Leave
May 26, 3:06 AM EDT

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resurfaced
Friday after nearly four months in hiding and demanded U.S. troops
leave Iraq. Hours later, the notorious leader of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army
militia in the city of Basra was killed in a shootout as British and
Iraq troops tried to arrest him, police and the British military said.

Al-Sadr went underground - reportedly in Iran - at the start of the
U.S.-led security crackdown on Baghdad 14 weeks ago. He also had
ordered his militia off the streets to prevent conflict with U.S.
forces.

His return to the Shiite holy city of Najaf appeared to be an effort
by the 33-year-old firebrand cleric to regain control over his
militia, which had begun fragmenting, and to take advantage of the
illness of a Shiite rival. There had also been some indication that
his absence from the national arena was costing him political support.

"We demand the withdrawal of the occupation forces, or the creation of
a timetable for such a withdrawal," he said, wiping sweat from his
brow with a white cloth as temperatures hovered at 113 degrees. "I
call upon the Iraqi government not to extend the occupation even for a
single day."

But even on the day he spoke, President Bush signed a $95 billion bill
to pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through Sept. 30, after a
bitter struggle with Democrats who sought to tie the money to troop
withdrawals.

Al-Sadr did not address his reasons for returning.

However, during his time in absentia his militia appeared to have
split into a faction calling itself the "noble Mahdi Army" and more
extremist elements that it accuses of killing innocent Sunnis and
embezzling funds. Some members of the more moderate faction were even
willing to provide the U.S. military with information on their rivals
in an effort to purge the militia.

Later Friday, the Mahdi Army received a blow when its Basra leader,
Wissam al-Waili, 23, also known as Abu Qadir, was shot and killed
along with his brother and two aides during a gunbattle with British
and Iraqi troops, police and the British military said."