Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr calls for massive anti-US rally

[December]

More bad news for American Empire in Iraq..... The reports of Iraqi uprising are coming.....

Fri, 04 Apr 2008

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2008/03/26/wiraq226.jpg

Prominent Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr

Influential Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called a mass rally for April 9 in Baghdad to protest the US occupation of the country.

Sadr's movement had earlier set the venue for the rally in the holy city of Najaf. But a Sadr spokesman said on Friday that the protest would be more effective in Baghdad.

"The Sadr movement has decided to change the venue of the huge demonstration that had been announced for Najaf on April 9," said Salah al-Obeidi, spokesman for Sadr's office in Najaf.
"A protest in Baghdad will be more effective because it is in the capital, and secondly, a protest there will allow people of other sects to participate," Obeidi told AFP.
He called on all Iraqis from every sect to participate in the demonstration which is aimed to protest the (US) 'occupation'.

Sadr's call for a demonstration against the US presence in the country last year received a warm welcome by the Iraqis.

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=50259&sectionid=351020201


http://www.iraqslogger.com/post_photos/73843149_10.jpg

Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the powerful Mahdi army, called protests yesterday to Najaf to oppose the US occupation. BBC estimates that up to 1 million showed up, waving Iraqi flags as well as defiling those of the US. Al-Sadr, now in exile in Iran, called on Iraqi Security Forces and Mahdi Army factions to stop fighting one another in southern Iraq, and instead unite to oust the occupying US authorities. Since the Mahdi army is widely believed to have infiltrated the ranks of the Security forces and police, this claim should be taken seriously.

[Go Fish]

COOL! Get them all in one place and get rid of all those FAE weapons.

[December]

What is FAE weapons?

[Elrathin]

Fuel Air Explosives.

[Go Fish]

They are things of wondrous majesty.

[jafar00]

COOL! Get them all in one place and get rid of all those FAE weapons.

Is genocide the answer to everything?

[apdst]

Is genocide the answer to everything?

Muslims have been committing genocide for fourteen hundred years. You tell us.

[Elrathin]

Muslims have been committing genocide for fourteen hundred years. You tell us.

Really? My neighbor is Muslim, when has he been comiting genocide?

[Wndrtch]

Is genocide the answer to everything?

Genocide? What are you talking about? I suspect there is far more than just 1Mill Shia in the world. You have to get all of them for it to be genocide.

[Wndrtch]

More bad news for American Empire in Iraq..... The reports of Iraqi uprising are coming.....

Actually, it's rather good news for the American Empire...

Iraq: Sadr Party Faces Rising Isolation
By HAMZA HENDAWI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA – 1 day ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's major Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties have closed ranks to force anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to disband his Mahdi Army militia or leave politics, lawmakers and officials involved in the effort said Sunday.

Such a bold move risks a violent backlash by al-Sadr's Shiite militia. But if it succeeds it could cause a major realignment of Iraq's political landscape.

The first step will be adding language to a draft election bill banning parties that operate militias from fielding candidates in provincial balloting this fall, the officials and lawmakers said. The government intends to send the draft to parliament within days and hopes to win approval within weeks.

"We, the Sadrists, are in a predicament," lawmaker Hassan al-Rubaie said Sunday. "Even the blocs that had in the past supported us are now against us and we cannot stop them from taking action against us in parliament."

Al-Sadr controls 30 of the 275 parliament seats, a substantial figure but not enough to block legislation.

Al-Rubaie said the threat was so serious that a delegation might have to discuss the issue with al-Sadr in person. The young cleric, who has disappeared from the public eye for nearly a year, is believed to be in the Iranian holy city of Qom.

In a rare public signal of dissent in Sadrist ranks, al-Rubaie complained that "those close" to al-Sadr "are radicals and that poses problems," suggesting that some of the cleric's confidants may be urging him toward a showdown.

"We must go and explain to him in person that there's a problem," he said.

U.S. officials have been pressing Iraq's government for years to disband the militias, including the Mahdi Army.

All major political parties are believed to maintain links to armed groups, although none acknowledge it. Some groups, including militias of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party and al-Sadr's chief rival, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, have been integrated into the government security services.

That put them nominally under the government's authority, although they are believed to maintain ties to the political parties and retain their command structures.

Uprisings in 2004 by al-Sadr's militiamen ended through mediation by top Shiite clerics. Shiite leaders then attempted to bring the Sadrists into the political mainstream, offering them Cabinet posts and deferring to them on some major security issues.

But attacks by Shiite extremists continued, allegedly carried out by pro-Iranian splinter groups.

The militia issue took on new urgency after al-Maliki launched a major operation March 25 against Shiite extremists in Basra and fighting quickly spread from the southern port city to Baghdad and elsewhere.

The Sadrists believed the Basra crackdown was aimed at weakening their movement before the fall elections. They insisted al-Maliki was encouraged to move against them by their chief Shiite rivals — the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.

U.S. and Iraqi officials insist the crackdown is directed at criminal gangs and splinter groups supported by Iran.

Al-Sadr ordered his fighters off the streets March 30 under a deal brokered in Iran. But the truce left the militia intact and armed and did not address the long-term threat.

"We want the Sadrists to disband the Mahdi Army. Just freezing it is no longer acceptable," said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to al-Maliki. "The new election law will prevent any party that has weapons or runs a militia from contesting elections."

Broad outlines of the strategy to combat the militias were made public late Saturday in a statement by the Political Council for National Security, a top leadership body including the national president, prime minister and leaders of major parties in parliament.

The statement called on parties to disband their militias or face a political ban. Although the statement did not mention the Sadrists, the intent was clear.

President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said Sunday that the statement was adopted after "heated, cordial, frank and transparent discussion," Al-Rubaie and another Sadrist lawmaker who attended objected to the call for militias to disband, he said.

Al-Rubaie confirmed Talabani's account and said "our political isolation was very clear and real during the meeting."

Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said the Sadrists must either disband the militia "or face the Americans." He was alluding to the possibility of full-scale U.S. military involvement if al-Sadr refuses to disband his militia and the government decides to disarm it by force.

Al-Sadr has called on supporters to stage a "million-strong" protest in Baghdad on Wednesday to mark the fifth anniversary of the city's capture by U.S. troops.

"We will watch it carefully," said Reda Jawad Taqi, a senior member of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h0_feLSmJcspNYz9g3tqDkkwXD2QD8VSIPN00

[DamnYankee]

Is genocide the answer to everything?

It is to Islam because not everyone will bow towards Mecca.

[Go Fish]

Is genocide the answer to everything?

It's not genocide when you only kill the bad ones, right?

[David]

It is to Islam because not everyone will bow towards Mecca.

What a... Stupid thing to say. Muslims actually respect Jews and Christians. To not is to sin in Islam. It's the crazy radicals that cause all the problems.

[PostmodernProphet]

What a... Stupid thing to say. Muslims actually respect Jews and Christians. To not is to sin in Islam. It's the crazy radicals that cause all the problems.

unfortunately, though declining, "crazy radicals" still make up a considerable portion of Islam....

The report said support for such bombings and terror tactics has dropped since 2002 in seven of the eight countries where data were available. In Lebanon, the proportion of Muslims who say suicide attacks are often or sometimes justified fell to 34 percent from 79 percent while just 9 percent of Pakistanis believe suicide bombings can be justified often or sometimes, down from 33 percent in 2002 and a high of 41 percent in 2004.

But support for suicide bombings is widespread among Palestinians, the report said, with 41 percent saying such attacks are often justified while another 29 percent say they can sometimes be justified. It found that only six percent of Palestinians—the smallest in any Muslim public surveyed—say such attacks are never justified.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QJ5M000&show_article=1

can you suggest any other world religion where suicide bombing would be considered justified by even 1% of it's members?......

[Wndrtch]

unfortunately, though declining, "crazy radicals" still make up a considerable portion of Islam....



http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QJ5M000&show_article=1

can you suggest any other world religion where suicide bombing would be considered justified by even 1% of it's members?......

Remember, in the Dark Ages, you could be tortured and burned alive for being a heretic. Back then, I bet you would find that more than 1% of that Christian population thought it was acceptable.

Much of the current Muslim population is still living with a culture that has been unchanged in 200-400 years.

Perhaps what is needed, is the influence of a more modern culture within the ME region.

I wonder how you do that? :ponder:

[PostmodernProphet]

Remember, in the Dark Ages, you could be tortured and burned alive for being a heretic. Back then, I bet you would find that more than 1% of that Christian population thought it was acceptable.

so the point you are trying to make is what....that Islam is currently at the point that Christianity was at when the majority of it's participants were violent idiots?........

[jafar00]

It is to Islam because not everyone will bow towards Mecca.

Muslims don't want to force anyone to become a believer. You can't and besides, forcing conversion is a sin.

unfortunately, though declining, "crazy radicals" still make up a considerable portion of Islam....



http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QJ5M000&show_article=1

can you suggest any other world religion where suicide bombing would be considered justified by even 1% of it's members?......

Can you show me where the religion of Islam condones suicide bombing?

The Christian religion however has a perfect example of a suicide bombing in the bible, and it is glorified rather than condemned!

Judges 16 in the Bible says...

25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them." 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

This apparently happened in Gaza so one could say, with 3000 killed by Sampson that the Palestinians had their 9/11 several thousand years before the New York one. ;)

Now, find me a similar passage in the Qur'aan that glorifies suicide attacks resulting in the mass murder of people?

[Truth_and_Power]

It's pretty simple. Al Sadr pulled a matador and stepped out of the way of the surge. Now that the surge is ending, it's showtime soon. If enough political progress was made and the progressive support the U.S. back gov't & the U.S.'s role in the mission, it can succeed. This is when we see if the U.S. claim about the surge allowing progress on other fronts is grounded in reality. If not, IMO this war is over. It is up to the Iraqis to make a choice now.