IRAQ: Sadr ready for talks without prior conditions

The Guardian ^ | Thursday April 15, 2004 | Rory McCarthy in Baghdad

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The radical Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr seemed to be ready yesterday to negotiate his way out of a worsening standoff with the US forces.

As 2,500 American soldiers massed on the outskirts of the holy city of Najaf, Mr Sadr's representatives suggested that he was ready to make a deal with the US authorities, less than two weeks after he began the violent uprising in the south.

In Najaf a senior aide said Mr Sadr had dropped his earlier conditions for talks, which included the permanent withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq's holy Shia cities and the release of members of his militia taken prisoner by the Americans.

"After the intervention of the religious authorities Sayyid [Mr] Moqtada al-Sadr has lifted these conditions and will negotiate without them being met," Qais al-Khazali said.

The climbdown happened after Iran sent a senior foreign ministry official to Baghdad to help negotiate an end to the impasse.

In Tehran the foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, said the US had asked the Iranian government, through the Swiss embassy, to mediate in the dispute with Mr Sadr.

In Baghdad, Sheikh Raed al-Khadhemi al-Sa'adi, another of the cleric's deputies, said the group wanted to avoid further confrontations with US troops.

"Look how Sayyid Moqtada is talking about negotiation while the Americans are raising the pressure," he said in his office in Kadhimiya, in northern Baghdad. "We just need to calm everything down."

The US military has vowed to "kill or capture" Mr Sadr, and insists that he must disarm his militia, the Jaish al-Mahdi (Army of the Hidden Imam).

They also want him tried, suspecting he was involved in the murder of a moderate Shia cleric in Najaf a year ago.

In response to the American pressure, Mr Sadr has in the past two days withdrawn the militia from the police stations and government buildings it was occupying in Kufa, Najaf and Kerbala - three holy cities in the south.

Sheikh Sa'adi described the militia as "the army of the Iraqi people".

"It is of the people and it is to serve the people," he said.".

"Sayyid Moqtada has said that his door is open for negotiations and he is ready to settle this problem."

If the militia can be disbanded, then the last remaining obstacle to an agreement will be the question of the cleric himself. Sheikh Sa'adi said he did not recognise the arrest warrant issued by an Iraqi judge in recent months, under the guidance of the US authorities.

"This is not a legitimate government, so how can it bring Moqtada al-Sadr to trial?"

Some mediators from other influential Shia groups, particularly the Dawa party, have said that Mr Sadr may be ready after June 30, when sovereignty is restored to the Iraqis, to face a religious, though not a criminal, court.

It is unclear whether the US authorities will agree to such a compromise.

Yesterday another senior aide, Abdelkarim al-Anzi, said that Mr Sadr had offered unspecified peace proposals to avoid the ferocious fighting in Falluja being repeated in Najaf.

"Sayyid Moqtada made positive proposals to end the crisis," he told Reuters.

"I cannot disclose the details. He realises that an armed confrontation is not in anybody's interests."

[HardStarboard]

57gr just ahead of the ear first. Then we'll talk.

[dandelion]

Mu. Ha. Haaaaah.

I believe this is called "terms of surrender".

[Pukin Dog]

Here is the deal:

We promise to shoot you in the head, you promise to die.

[MNJohnnie]

Hmmmmm do Arabs have the "save face" reflex too? Sadr want's to surrender but doesn't want to admit it is a surrender?

[ETERNAL WARMING]

He realises that an armed confrontation is not in anybody's interests."


Bwaaaaaaaahahaha! YOU GO TROOPS! We've obviously got him cornered.

[Mr. Mojo]

Ah, so this "legitimate voice" (as Kerry called him) now wants to negotiate.

Send a daisy cutter to this terrorist and be done with it. .....and screw worrying about the PR. Our boys' lives are at stake here, and they're much more important than a few Iraqi "hearts and minds."

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

He has noticed lots of Hum Vees heading his way:

U.S. soldiers, prepared for a possible assault to capture radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, ring the outskirts of the holy city of Najaf, Iraq. Sadr has said that he would rather die than surrender. (Saurabh Das -- AP)

AND:

U.S. Denies Raid on Najaf Is Imminent
As Talks to End Standoff Continue, Troops Prepare to Capture Cleric Sadr

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 15, 2004; Page A19

While U.S. military commanders in Iraq have massed forces on the outskirts of the holy city of Najaf, Pentagon officials said yesterday that the United States is in no hurry to send troops into the city and attempt to seize the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.

More than a week of bloody fighting with Sadr's militia in Baghdad and other cities has left several hundred Shiite fighters dead, badly weakening Sadr's force and throwing the cleric on the defensive, the officials said.

At the same time, the Bush administration remains under strong pressure from moderate Shiite clerics and Iraqi political authorities to resolve the standoff in Najaf -- one of the holiest Shiite cities -- without more bloodshed.

As behind-the-scenes negotiations proceed with Sadr, a defense official privy to the U.S. position said Sadr's arrest remains an essential objective. The official also said that the administration opposes the option of exiling Sadr to Iran or anywhere else.

_____________________________________________________________

See this for the rest of the article:

U.S. Denies Raid on Najaf Is Imminent
As Talks to End Standoff Continue, Troops Prepare to Capture Cleric Sadr

[MNJohnnie]

Send a daisy cutter to this terrorist and be done with it. .....and screw worrying about the PR. Our boys' lives are at stake here, and they're much more important than a few Iraqi "hearts and minds."


Naw, that makes him a "Martyr" and a hero. Must better to arrest and humiliate him, showing him and his cronies to be the phony windbags they are.

[oolatec]

At first, he said he would rather die than surrender... then he said he was willing to negotiate if his demands were met... now he has no demands... I see a pattern here!

[Mr. Mojo]

Arresting him might prove difficult, if not impossible. Although he may not personally be the toughest cookie, I suspect the fanatics around him will be fighting to the death.

But I agree with you that humiliation is preferable.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

To apply military pressure, the United States has moved 2,500 troops, backed by tanks and artillery, into place around Najaf and announced that U.S. troops have orders to kill or capture Sadr. In turn, Sadr has issued a defiant statement that he would rather die than surrender.

Isn't that way more troops than we have surrounding Fallujah?

We are ready to lay waste to his little band of thugs!

Stock Market goes up next week!

[onyx]

Waste him.

[MNJohnnie]

Arresting him might prove difficult, if not impossible. Although he may not personally be the toughest cookie, I suspect the fanatics around him will be fighting to the death.
But I agree with you that humiliation is preferable

Naw, the really serious Iraqi Clerics aren't backing him up and it is THEIR holy city as well. They will surrender him eventually, just need to give them enough time to avert the accusations of "tratior" the radicals will be throwing around. I think Fallugha scared the piss out of them. I don't think the really believed we would go in after them. God bless those Marines!

[lewislynn]

Some mediators from other influential Shia groups, particularly the Dawa party, have said that Mr Sadr may be ready after June 30, when sovereignty is restored to the Iraqis, to face a religious, though not a criminal, court.

There should be no trial, no negotiations, just kill the bastard or we're gonna have another perpetual terrorist like Arafat.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

LOL!

No compassion?

The TV pictures today made him look a Medieval character in some High School play to me.

[Rams82]

This is most likely a ploy by Iran to buy time to send more fighters.

[MNJohnnie]

This is most likely a ploy by Iran to buy time to send more fighters.


Good. More fighters, more targets, more kills. We are going to have to fight these guys eventually. If they want to match their weakness against our strength, good for us. Lot easier if the Terrorist enemy willingly enters the kill zone then us having to go find them

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good night all!

[Uncle Jaque]

RE:

"57gr just ahead of the ear first. Then we'll talk."

Make that a Hellfire missle, and I think you're on to something there!

Time for a little "turban toss", don't you think?