Posted on 04/07/2008 7:08:37 PM PDT by james500
Iraq's top Shiite religious leaders have told anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr not to disband his Mehdi Army, an al-Sadr spokesman said Monday amid fresh fighting in the militia's Baghdad strongholds.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded Sunday that the cleric disband his militia, which waged two uprisings against U.S. troops in 2004, or see his supporters barred from public office.
But al-Sadr spokesman Salah al-Obeidi said al-Sadr has consulted with Iraq's Shiite clerical leadership "and they refused that." He did not provide details of the talks.
The Mehdi Army has borne the brunt of an Iraqi government crackdown on what Iraqi and U.S. officials call "outlaw" militias in the past two weeks. The government's effort to reclaim control of the southern city of Basra in late March sparked clashes across southern Iraq and into Baghdad, leaving more than 700 dead, according to U.N. agencies.
Al-Sadr's followers have accused the government, which is dominated by al-Sadr's leading rivals, of trying to cripple their movement before provincial elections in October.
The Sadrists hold about 30 seats in Iraq's 275-member parliament and were part of al-Maliki's ruling coalition until August. The cleric withdrew his support over al-Maliki's refusal to demand a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
That didn’t take long did it, but then too it’s still a day away from the briefing by General Patraeus of congress, and for Sadr to cease now wouldn’t help Pelosi at all.
This is coming from CNN, who has a nasty habit of never getting their Iraq stories right.
Good. Now we can finish the job that should have been already been done.
I am calling BS on this CNN article! Absolutely no mention of Sistani. If this was an honest article they would have mentioned Sistani telling al-Sadr not to disband. They don't mention him.
Yes, you’re right, and coming on the heels of Maliki disabusing a CNN reporter of multiple myths in one fell swoop in an interview airing earlier today.
Odds are, as far as I’m concerned, the truth is 180 degrees from what they’ve reported.
Give Mooselimbs a choice: allow all of them either to renounce Islam or let them kill each other until one is left standing - then hang the one left standing.
I agree with you, avacado. CNN's sole source in the article for their claim is al-Sadr's spokesman. CNN is notorious for this kind of nonsense.
Are they sure it was Iraq’s spiritual leaders?
Or the ones in Qom?
The original statement was they were going to consult with those in Qom and Najaf...
If Sistani did not say it, it did not happen. CNN is full of Bravo Sierra.
Iraq’s top Shiite religious leaders have told anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr not to disband his Mehdi Army,
then Kill them also.
al-Sadr spokesman Salah al-Obeidi said al-Sadr has consulted with Iraq's Shiite clerical leadership "and they refused that." He did not provide details of the talks."We will demonstrate on the streets of Baghdad as planned, and- hey, what's the humming noise?" [ka-boom!]
Two points of interest to me:
1. When this first came up, Sadrs people said he would consult Sistani “and Top clerics in Qom” instead of saying Khamenei.
2. Now he says “top Iraqi clerics” instead of Sistani. when saying that disbanding was “denied”.
This smells like rotting fish.
Since I posted this article, I’ve been looking for any thing that would confirm or contradict it. There doesn’t seem to be anything out there. No AP, no Reuters. Maybe I should make a phonecall to Jomana Karadsheh or Salah al-Obeidi and ask them what’s up.
B-52 carpet bombing should change some minds,
This sounds vaguely familiar /sarc
Who's signature is on this reporter's check?
Ditto!
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