Analysis: Firebrand cleric more cautious - Muqtada al-Sadr

AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/7/06 | Robert H. Reid - ap

[blackbart.223]

"He'd just be a revered martyr and more powerful in death than he was in life."

I'm sick of hearing this one. Killed in public takes their power away because the misguided idiots that follow these bastards see them as immortal. Kill their "God" and it will dispirit them. Don't you get it?

[Spktyr]

You didn't read the rest of my post.

Openly killing him will just make it worse. Note that the Iranians still worship Khomeini, even though he's dead! Same thing with all these Islamic shrines in the region.

Making him disappear, though, will cause his followers to drift away, unsure if their leader was martyred or sold them a bill of goods and took off with their money.

I never said anything about NOT killing him after he's disappeared. That was the standard Soviet tactic for dealing with such problems - the offensive person disappeared, never to be seen again. What really happened was that that person was kidnapped, was given a bullet behind the ear and a shallow grave in an undisclosed location.

[peyton randolph]

We should take a page from the old Soviet book and "disappear" him.

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And pin his disappearance on Iran.

[blackbart.223]

"Making him disappear, though, will cause his followers to drift away, unsure if their leader was martyred or sold them a bill of goods and took off with their money."

You give them far too much credit. Arafat took off with their money and after he croaked from old age, as opposed to a well placed shot, they didn't see how badly Arafat screwed them. If Arafat(too late to do this now) was knocked off early in his career it would have done much more to promote peace.

[Spktyr]

The thing is, he took their money and died (publicly) before he could disappear himself. That's different from someone disappearing.

Remember, the worst brigands become saints after death for these people.

[Spktyr]

Iran would work. If not possible, then Saudi Arabia.

[blackbart.223]

"The thing is, he took their money and died (publicly) before he could disappear himself. That's different from someone disappearing."

A small flaw in your logic. Bin Ladin has disappeared but they still worship him. And why? They see him as an invincible god against the infidel. Killing these turds in public takes that perception away.

[Roy Tucker]

Yup, reminds me of the Germans letting Lenin out of prison or Batista freeing Castro. It's going to come back and bite us on the butt.

[Jumper]

Sadr's father's brother, is the founder of Hezbelloh, sitting in Iran....

This guy is toast once a final showdown with Iran takes place.

[Allegra]

For the time being, al-Sadr prefers to look for ways to remind the Americans and the Iraqi government that he is a powerful figure who cannot be easily dismissed.

The Americans and the Iraqi government should remind al-Sadr how powerful they are by sending the pudgy little cleric to meet his 72 virgin goats. Pronto.

[JasonC]

He's just a goon. No problem, should have been arrested a long time ago. He hasn't the slightest religion, he's pure cynical politician all the way down. A drawback he shares with certain other people.

[MplsSteve]

Excellent post, Bill...excellent!

[duckln]

He's just a goon. No problem, should have been arrested a long time ago. He hasn't the slightest religion..

Some goon, exactly what I'm trying to tell you.
The guy is a 'cleric', preaches and holes up in a Mosque, and has a '10,000' strong armed militia.

[JasonC]

Actually his father was a cleric, he is just a bag man for Iran, handing out their money to his followers. Pure politician, wouldn't know piety if it bit him.

[FreedomNeocon]

He should have been killed twice now... as in we had every right to do it and it would have all been taken care of and forgotten by now.

At this point it is MUCH harder to do... we basically have to wait for him to act up again to even take a shot. A shot we BLEW twice before.

Oh well... I guess if we took out mookie, the Iranians would just find a less publicly visible stooge to exploit.