Bill
04-06-2008, 07:33 PM
I hadn't read this in teh other reports about the heat in Iraq - maybe I missed it - but it seems important enough to warrant a post of it's own anyway.
Most of this cnn article is about the rocket attacks on the green zone - supposedly with better rockets provided to the shia by Iran.
It's interesting that this has become a shia/shia & shia/US conflict for the moment.
I'm reminded of McBush's "mistake" of claiming Iran was arming and training al qaeda and the sunnis - now we see the iranian rockets fired from the shia, who, of course, were the combatants supported by Iran.
This would be perfect timing for an attack on Iran. Fingers crossed.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/06/iraq.main/index.html
Sunday's fighting came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded al-Sadr disband his Mehdi Army and threatened to bar al-Sadr's followers from the political process if the cleric refused.
"A decision was taken yesterday that they no longer have a right to participate in the political process or take part in the upcoming elections unless they end the Mehdi Army," al-Maliki said.
A spokesman for al-Sadr, Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, said that any effort to bar Sadrists from participation in politics would be unconstitutional -- and that any decision to disband the Mehdi Army is not the government's to make.
"It is up to the side that established it," he said.
Al-Maliki spoke in an exclusive interview with CNN after a weeklong military offensive against what Iraqi officials called gangs and militia members in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
Hundreds were killed or wounded in the fighting across Iraq, which reportedly ended when Iranian and Iraqi Shiite officials held talks in Iran with al-Sadr.
Asked about Iran's role in ending the Basra conflict, al-Maliki attributed the cease-fire to the work of his security forces. Haidar al-Abadi, an Iraqi lawmaker who belongs to al-Maliki's Dawa Party, said last week that Iranian officials participated in the discussions, and another source close to the talks said the Iranians pressured al-Sadr to craft an agreement.
"I am not aware of such an attempt," al-Maliki said Sunday. "What happened on the ground and the breakdown in the structure of this militia is what made Muqtada al-Sadr issue his statement to withdraw his militants from the streets. What happened was something to save Muqtada, not to help us."
Most of this cnn article is about the rocket attacks on the green zone - supposedly with better rockets provided to the shia by Iran.
It's interesting that this has become a shia/shia & shia/US conflict for the moment.
I'm reminded of McBush's "mistake" of claiming Iran was arming and training al qaeda and the sunnis - now we see the iranian rockets fired from the shia, who, of course, were the combatants supported by Iran.
This would be perfect timing for an attack on Iran. Fingers crossed.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/06/iraq.main/index.html
Sunday's fighting came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded al-Sadr disband his Mehdi Army and threatened to bar al-Sadr's followers from the political process if the cleric refused.
"A decision was taken yesterday that they no longer have a right to participate in the political process or take part in the upcoming elections unless they end the Mehdi Army," al-Maliki said.
A spokesman for al-Sadr, Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, said that any effort to bar Sadrists from participation in politics would be unconstitutional -- and that any decision to disband the Mehdi Army is not the government's to make.
"It is up to the side that established it," he said.
Al-Maliki spoke in an exclusive interview with CNN after a weeklong military offensive against what Iraqi officials called gangs and militia members in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
Hundreds were killed or wounded in the fighting across Iraq, which reportedly ended when Iranian and Iraqi Shiite officials held talks in Iran with al-Sadr.
Asked about Iran's role in ending the Basra conflict, al-Maliki attributed the cease-fire to the work of his security forces. Haidar al-Abadi, an Iraqi lawmaker who belongs to al-Maliki's Dawa Party, said last week that Iranian officials participated in the discussions, and another source close to the talks said the Iranians pressured al-Sadr to craft an agreement.
"I am not aware of such an attempt," al-Maliki said Sunday. "What happened on the ground and the breakdown in the structure of this militia is what made Muqtada al-Sadr issue his statement to withdraw his militants from the streets. What happened was something to save Muqtada, not to help us."