Cleric: Iraqis Will Stand Up to U.S. (Deathwish Alert!)

CAIRO, Egypt - The radical Iraqi Shiite cleric that the United States has labeled as an "outlaw" said on Monday that Iraqis were not afraid to die and would stand up to America's military might.

In a signed statement, Muqtada al-Sadr demanded coalition forces stop attacks Iraqis and cease arrests of those suspected of involvement in the worsening insurgency inside Iraq (news - web sites).

"They (the U.S.-led forces) have the money, weapons and huge numbers, but these things are not going to weaken our will because God is with us," according to the statement, which was sent to The Associated Press by the Qatar-based satellite TV station al-Jazeera.

"Tell them (coalition forces) that we don't fear death and martyrdom gives us dignity from God," the statement said.

The United States announced Monday that an Iraqi judge had issued a murder arrest warrant for al-Sadr's over his alleged involvement in the April 2003 murder of a rival Shiite cleric.

Violent demonstrations by his supporters in at least four Iraqi cities on Sunday took the lives of 52 Iraqis, eight U.S. soldiers and a Salvadoran soldier in one of the deadliest days since the U.S.-led invasion.

Al-Sadr, who was holed up Monday in a mosque in the city of Kufa, south of Baghdad, surrounded by armed followers, said in the statement that captured former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) should stand trial and that a new Iraqi government should be created without involvement from outside forces.

Al-Sadr also demanded the coalition put on trial coalition soldiers who have committed "crimes" against Iraqis. He was apparently referring to troops who have killed or injured Iraqi civilians but have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37883

Iran declares war on U.S.

Nobody else is saying it, so, once again, it is left to me to explain what really happened in Iraq yesterday.

Iran declared war on the U.S.

The signs have been there for a long time. I don't know if they have been intentionally ignored by U.S. forces in Iraq, or whether there is some master plan at the Defense Department to deal with this scenario.

All I can tell you is we are now fighting a regional war. Our local opposition in Iraq is being trained, armed and directed with foreign support – by neighboring Iran.

The uprising yesterday was treated in many initial news accounts as a spontaneous uprising directed by Najaf cleric Moktada al-Sadr.

What the other news accounts left out was one significant, but well-established fact: Al-Sadr works for Iran. He is an Iranian agent. His authority comes from Iran.

Last April, an Iranian cleric, Kadhem al-Husseini al-Haeri, issued a religious edict and distributed to Shiite mullahs in Iraq, calling on them "to seize the first possible opportunity to fill the power vacuum in the administration of Iraqi cities."

The edict, or fatwa, issued April 8, 2003, showed that Shiite clerics in Iraq are receiving significant direction from Iran. The edict said that Shiite leaders have to "seize as many positions as possible to impose a fait accompli for any coming government."

"People have to be taught not to collapse morally before the means used by the Great Satan if it stays in Iraq," the fatwa read. "It will try to spread moral decay, incite lust by allowing easy access to stimulating satellite channels and spread debauchery to weaken people's faith."

The fatwa also instructed the cleric's followers to "raise people's awareness of the Great Satan's plans and of the means to abort them."

On April 7, the day American troops effectively toppled Hussein's government by seizing its main seats of power in Baghdad, al-Haeri sent a handwritten letter to the city of Najaf, appointing Moktada al-Sadr as his deputy in Iraq.

Haeri wrote: "We hereby inform you that Mr. Moktada al-Sadr is our deputy and representative in all fatwa affairs."

It added: "His position is my position."

Also last April, WorldNetDaily reported that Iran had armed and trained some 40,000 Shiite Iraqi fighters – most former prisoners of war captured during the Iran-Iraq war – and sent them to Iraq to foment an Islamic revolution. The report originated in my premium, online, intelligence newsletter G2 Bulletin.

The report said this small army represents the vanguard of Iran's effort to subvert the U.S.-led liberation of Iraq and use the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime for its own ends.

"Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir Khakim is on record pledging more than once to his followers a plan to impose Islamic rule over Iraq with the help of Iran," reports G2 Bulletin. "The Tehran ayatollahs, or the Pasadran, the powerful revolutionary guard, repeatedly have been telling the Iraqis they would be their legitimate allies and partners. In such a scenario, there is no room for the U.S. The coalition that liberated Iraq is seen by the Iraqi Shiite militants and their Iranian sponsors as a tool for handing Iraq over to them without the need to use a massive force of their own."

Iran has clear objectives in Iraq. The only question is whether the United States still has clear objectives in Iraq – and whether Washington recognizes that this war front just got wider.

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