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Al-Sadr Pulls Back
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said today that he was pulling his fighters off the streets nationwide and called on the government to stop raids against his followers and free them from prison.
Al-Sadr’s nine-point statement was issued by his headquarters in the holy city of Najaf and broadcast through loudspeakers on Shiite mosques. It said the first point was: “taking gunmen off the streets in Basra and elsewhere.”
He also demanded that the Iraqi government stop “haphazard raids” and release security detainees who haven’t been charged, two issues cited by his movement as reasons for fighting the government.
Iraqi President Nouri Al-Maliki welcomed Sadr’s move to prevent the conflict from widening, but warned that anyone who doesn’t heed Sadr’s call will be treated as an outlaw.
The prime minister, himself a Shiite, has called the fight “a decisive and final battle” and vowed to remain in Basra until government forces wrest control from militias, including the Mahdi Army that is loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
But al-Maliki also acknowledged Saturday that he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash the offensive would provoke in Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power.
Unfortunately, the Iraqi President has allowed politics to get in the way once again when attempting to deal with Al-Sadr. He should take advantage of the U.S. forces while they’re still in the country to rid Iraq of Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army.
Each time Iraqi forces deal a blow to al-Sadr, they pull back and allow him to regroup and rearm under another so-called “cease fire”. President Al-Maliki needs to stop playing politics and finish the job once and for all or Iraq will never have a chance at becoming a stable country.
-Chris Jones
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