Sadr Movement Will Give A 2 Yr Deadline For Agreement With US

Asharq Al Aswat Newspaper ^ | Sept 23, 2008 | Not given

[BCW]

Sadr Movement: We Will Give A Two Year Deadline For Agreement With America...If It (The Agreement) Has Benefits (Other: Coalition) [¨Asharq Al Awsat Newspaper] (23 SEP) Summary: Analysts state: the next step for Shiite leader Muqtada Al Sadr needs to be ‘decisive’...if we wants to remain (significant) in Iraq’s political field, especially (now) since: his Mahdi Army militia is being forced to stay off the Iraqi streets, and his Movement’s political influence has dwindled. Meanwhile (however), his (Sadr’s) spokesman - Sheikh Salah Al Ubaidi has emphasized: the (Sadr) Movement’s influence is growing ‘day by day’. Since the US’ invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Sadr Movement and the Mahdi Army have (continuously) called for the removal (withdrawal) of the US forces. After hearing ...during the security agreement negotiations... the year 2011 mentioned as a possible ‘withdrawal date’ for US forces, it seems that Al Sadr (now) needs to find a (new, main) issue to justify (the continued existence of) his Movement. After his having led two ‘uprisings’ against the US forces in 2004, Sadr has decided to ‘freeze’ the Mahdi Army’s activities. (And now/recently) Al Sadr has changed the ‘cultural/societal branch’ (the nonmilitary/unarmed branch) of his Movement. Al Sadr has also decided that his Movement will not participate ...under the name Sadr Movement...in the upcoming Provincial Council/local elections; instead, the Sadrists will join ‘independent’ lists in these elections. According to the Reuters news agency, this decision (about how the Sadrists will take part in the elections) will allow Sadr (and his Movement) to stay involved in the political scene...without (the Sadr bloc actively lending an air of) legitimacy to these elections which will be conducted while the US forces are still present in Iraq. However, this decision will limit the Sadr Movement’s influence in the local councils...councils which are gathering more and more authority everyday. Additionally, he will (also) lose more power during the Parliament elections which are (currently) scheduled to occur before the end of 2009. The Sadr Movement spokesman (Al Ubaidi) clarified to this newspaper, “The Sadr Movement is not a ‘political party’ which consists of individuals who can change their ideology and go to some other ‘party’. (Rather) it is a ‘public (popular) movement’ which continues to grow ‘day by day’.” Al Ubaidi added, “The call (recently) made by Kufa Mosque’s Friday Imam to the Sadr Movement...calling for them to visit (voter) registration centers... caused the numbers of registrations to increase, from its level of 200,000, to more than two million. This proves that the Sadr Movement is still present. What has happened is: the tactics of the Sadr Movement have changed. These tactics were (used to be): opposition and ‘armed resistance’; now, the tactics have changed to using other methods. (These new) methods are: to wait to see the results of the negotiations concerning the Iraqi-American security agreement. Regarding what might happen if Iraqi political groups are not able to reach (pass/ratify) an agreement with the Americans, Al Ubaidi said, “For every action, there is a reaction. We will see (observe) what type of an agreement results from these negotiations. We will most definitely give our opinion. We would support the Iraqi government if it insists upon the Occupation’s withdrawal. That is our demand. And, (we would support) if these negotiations provide benefits to Iraq’s society. We are not saying that we will accept this agreement; (but,) if this agreement appears to have benefits (for Iraq, then) we can give (the agreement) one or two years.” Regarding the ‘freezing’ (inactivity) of the Sadr bloc in Iraq’s Parliament, Al Ubaidi said, “The reason behind this is: the bloc (no longer) has any specific Ministries in the government, like the other blocs do. Other blocs have (control) specific Ministries in the government and those blocs demand high level positions in order to: strengthen their (governmental) presence, invest their money, and strengthen their political presence. The Sadr Movement does not have any Ministries or high level positions in the government. However, we do have a ‘demand’ that is difficult for other groups in Parliament to accept; this demand is for the Occupation to withdraw!” Regarding their participation in the upcoming elections, Al Ubaidi said, “The Movement will support all ‘independent’ lists which include professional and technocratic individuals. Individuals from the Sadr Movement who want to take part (as candidates) in the elections must ‘join’ ‘independent’ lists which contain ‘well known’ individuals in the society. They should not join lists which contain individuals who have a ‘black’ (bad) history.”

[BCW]

Again, this is the position of both Sadrists and those under Hakim's political & religious militias. A true insight on how these groups view the US effort at reconstruction.

BCW http://babylonscovertwar.com

[Iron Munro]

We have spent hundreds of billions of our treasure and taken many thousands of casualties to create what will become just another militant Islamic state as soon as we pull our troops out.

We had a chance to install a democratic government but bowed to hard line muslims.

In five years you won’t be able to tell Iraq from Iran.

[Jmouse007]

Will somone PLEASE just kill this piece of human excrement?