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Muqtada al Sadr. Click to view. |
Posted on 04/21/2008 7:18:26 AM PDT by Tennessean4Bush
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Muqtada al Sadr. Click to view. |
The battle between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi and US forces intensified over the weekend. As the Iraqi Army took control of a Mahdi Army stronghold in Basrah, Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army, threatened to end the self-imposed cease-fire. Iraqi security forces have also stepped up efforts against the Mahdi Army in the center-south region of Iraq, and captured more than 40 of the Iranian-backed Special Groups, a Mahdi Army splinter group.
Sadr threatened to end the cease-fire after Iraqi troops took over the Mahdi Army-dominated neighborhood of Hayaniyah in Basrah and ejected the Sadrist political party from government-owned offices in the city. He openly said he was prepared to revolt against the government.
"Do you want a third uprising?” Sadr said, referring to the two Mahdi Army uprisings in Baghdad, Najaf, and the South in April and August 2006. "So I direct my last warning and speech to the Iraqi government to refrain and to take the path of peace and abandon violence against its people. If the government does not refrain and leash the militias that have penetrated it, we will announce an open war until liberation."
The Iraqi government brushed off Sadr's comments and continued to maintain that the Mahdi Army must disarm while saying the Mahdi Army and the Sadrist movement was not a target. "The state can not withstand the existence of two armies," government spokesman Ali al Dabbagh said. Dabbagh also noted the government is not negotiating with the Sadrist movement. “We don’t have direct negotiations or contacts with the Sadr’s movement because we have nothing to negotiate with them but also we don’t have problems with the political factions,” he said.
The US military and government responded forcefully to Sadr's threat to end the ceasefire. "If Sadr and Jaish al-Mahdi (Mahdi Army) become very aggressive, we've got enough combat power to take the fight to the enemy," Major General Rick Lynch, the commander of US forces in Karbala, Najaf, Babil, Wasit, and southern Baghdad provinces told the US media.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza, who is currently visiting Iraq, taunted Sadr by implying he was hiding in Iran while ordering his fighters to oppose their government. "I know he's sitting in Iran," Rice said. "I guess its all-out war for anybody but him. I guess that's the message; his followers can go to their deaths and he's in Iran."
The cease-fire is all but over
The Mahdi Army cease-fire is all but dead, as the Mahdi Army has openly resisted the Iraqi government's attempts to assert control in Sadrist strongholds in Baghdad, Basrah, and the South. Sadr admitted his political movement issued orders to attack both US and Iraqi troops and has called for Iraqi soldiers and police to desert their units.
Sadr's forces have continued to attack Iraqi government forces despite a cease-fire. An incident on April 19 south of Nasariyah backfired on the Mahdi Army as 40 fighters were captured, including two leaders, after attempting to ambush Iraqi forces in Suq Ash Shuyukh. The Iraqi security forces responded by sending a joint force of soldiers, police, and special police to battle the Mahdi Army force.
The Mahdi Army forces "retreated to building that contained the local Sadr Trend office" after "facing a combination of armored vehicles and suppressive fire," Multinational Forces Iraq reported in a press release. Iraqi forces cleared the building and discovered a large weapons cache that included "explosively formed penetrators, Katyusha rockets, rocket propelled grenade launchers and a large quantity of additional weapons and ammunition." Iran has supplied explosively formed penetrators to the Mahdi Army and the Special Groups.
A local police chief said 39 Mahdi Army fighters were captured, while 22 people, including two policemen, were killed, while another 19 police were wounded during the fighting. Multinational Forces Iraq said 40 "criminals" were captured and 12 Iraqi soldiers were wounded.
US and Iraqi troops have been active in Baghdad and Sadr City as well. US soldiers killed 22 "criminals" and captured six during a series of engagements in Baghdad over the last 24 hours. On April 19, aerial weapons teams killed seven Mahdi Army fighters in Sadr City as they transported weapons and attacked US and Iraqi forces.
US troops killed 20 Mahdi Army fighters today during a series of engagements in the Adhamiyah, East Rashid, and Kadamiyah districts in Baghdad. Coalition special forces captured a "suspected Iranian-trained Special Groups commander" and three lieutenants and killed three others during a targeted raid in Kadamiyah. US soldiers killed 12 Mahdi Army fighters as they planted roadside bombs and attacked US forces in Adhamiyah and East Rashid. Another five Mahdi fighters were killed and two wounded by air weapons teams late in the afternoon on Sunday.
In Basrah, Iraqi troops conducted a cordon-and-search operation in the Al Kaziza region north of the city. Iraqi troops " captured a number of wanted men" and seized heavy and medium weapons during the operation.
In Karbala, Iraqi troops also found a weapons factory with a large weapons cache containing "80 IEDs, 130 detonation devices and 60 kg of TNT." Karbala police also captured an eight-man cell, including the cell leader. Police "confiscated their documents that include names of politicians and religious clergies' representatives in Karbala, aiming at eliminating and assassinating them."
Background on the fighting between the Mahdi Army and the Iraqi government
Mahdi Army forces rose up after the Iraqi government started the assault on Basrah on March 25 to clear the city of the Mahdi Army and other Iranian-backed Shia militias. Sadr called for his forces to leave the streets on March 30 just as Iraqi Army and police reinforcements began to arrive in Basrah. Sadr later admitted he ordered his followers within the Army and police to abandon their posts and join the fighting against the government.
US and Iraqi forces killed 173 Mahdi Army fighters in Baghdad alone during the six days of fighting from March 25-30. The fighting has not abated in Sadr City and other Mahdi Army-dominated neighborhoods in northern and eastern Baghdad.
Sadr and his political movement have become increasingly isolated since the fighting began in Basrah, Baghdad, and the South. The Iraqi government, with the support of the political parties, said the Sadrist political movement would not be able to participate in upcoming provincial elections if it failed to disband the Mahdi Army. On April 13, the cabinet approved legislation that prevents political parties with militias from contesting provincial elections this year. The bill will now be sent to parliament for approval. Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, the top Shiite cleric in Iraq, said the Mahdi Army was not above the law and should be disarmed.
LWJ ping...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Go ahead and end the “cease fire”. When you do, it would be expected that you would come out of hiding in Iran and lead your troops....Yeah, right!. What a coward.
This guy is nuts. We should send him to Allah. Besides, he’s got really bad teeth.
Mookie, Mookie you’re so fine
You’ve nearly, nearly lost your mind
Hey Mookie, Hey Mookie
Kill the POS
This guy should have been daisy food for years now.
I can’t believe we didn’t see this idiot coming and just nipped him in the proverbial bud a long time ago.
Say what you will abot his politics, but that is one HANDSOME man!
That’s why Islam is the wretched refuge for ugly, sexually-repressed losers with bad teeth and smelly left hands who can’t get dates with women to save their worthless lives.
I know for a fact we could have killed him on at least two occasions. One occasion was in 2003 and then once again in 2004, but we backed off because of the fear of the fallout in 2003, and at the time he wasn’t “that bad” yet. In 2004 when things got a bit messy and Bremmer wanted it to end 1AD was called off even though they had busted up his Mahdi Army, injured him in the arm, and killed several of his closest men. We came close and had they let us continue, there is no question, we would have killed him.
People always mock “rednecks” or laugh at the “Texan” mentality and claim it's over simplistic and other things need considered. Had we taken this vermin out in 2004, many problems we had over the last four years would have been avoided. We would have had a $hit storm that would have lasted a short time, but when the dust would have settled, in the long run our work in Iraq would have been easier with less casualties especially in the Baghdad AO. Our lack in “balls” has cost us net more lives and made our work harder. When given a chance, take him out finally!
You’ve nearly, nearly lost your mind
Hey Mookie, Hey Mookie
Not to mention all those Iraqis and Americans who would still be alive were it not for his murderous 'army'.
Kill Mookie NOW!
L
Take this guy out. He threatens our people and we let him get away with it. Turn our military loose and let them do their job.
But yet the Iraqi gov. welcomes that little Iranian twit with open arms into the country. He should have been arrested for making threats and imprisoned. Are they trying to show Arab support or keeping their friends close and their enemies closer?
Sniper aims.
In 2003 this cockroach, whose thugs burned American bodies in Fallujah just weeks before, was going in and out of his mosque, while our helos circled overhead. Many of us screamed to kill him right there and then. For some stupid reason we didn’t. Do you think Bush regrets that now?
Mookie Mookie, oh no
Me gotta go
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Mookie Mookie, oh baby
Me gotta go
Fine little JDAM waits for me
Catch a camel got to flee
Hiding in Qom, all alone
Never know if I make it home
Mookie Mookie, oh no
Me gotta go
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Mookie Mookie, oh baby
Me gotta go
Three nights and days hide in fear
Think of martyrs, constantly
In my hole, seek me there
I have spiders in my hair.
Mookie Mookie, oh no
Me gotta go
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Mookie Mookie, oh baby
Me gotta go
Okay, let’s give it to ‘em, right now!
See Iran, the moon above
It won’t be long, I be back
Take up my arms again
Tell Maliki I’ll never leave again
Mookie Mookie, oh no
Me gotta go
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Mookie Mookie, oh baby
Me gotta go
Let’s take it on outa here now
Let’s go!!
Perfect!
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