August 18, 2004

Radical Cleric Accepts Najaf Peace Plan

Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accepted a peace plan Wednesday calling for his militiamen to disarm and leave their hideout in a revered Shiite shrine, raising hopes of ending a battle that has threatened to undermine Iraq's fledgling interim government.
[...]
The cease-fire agreement was announced at the National Conference in Baghdad, which had sent a delegation to negotiate with al-Sadr.

The conference, a gathering of more than 1,000 prominent Iraqis that was seen as an important milestone on the country's path to democracy, spilled into an unscheduled fourth day Wednesday so it could choose members of an interim National Council. The council is to act as a watchdog over the interim government until elections in January.
[...]
On Wednesday afternoon, Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan said the government could send Iraqi forces to raid the shrine by the end of the day. Prime Minister Ayad Allawi issued a statement accusing the militants of mining the area around the shrine.
[Boy! That's got to be a new way to make a "holy" place more sanctified!
Don't forget that Allawi's a Shi'ite himself; he's not cutting his "militant" brothers in Shi'a Islam any slack. I like him so much!--Jen]

Hours later, al-Sadr's office sent a message to the conference, saying he would accept the gathering's peace proposal, which demands his militia drop its arms, withdraw from the shrine and transform itself into a political party in exchange for amnesty.
[Lawsy, hope they don't give Mookie complete amnesty! He still needs to answer for at least the murder of that cleric.--J.T.]

Al-Sadr aide Ahmed al-Shaibany said U.S. forces must first stop attacking.
[Heheh. I'll bet they wish we'd stop attacking! Don't hack off the Marines!]

"They cannot ask us to disarm while ... they're using warplanes to fight us. There should be a cease-fire first and then they ask us to disarm," he said.

The U.S. military says the clashes have killed hundreds of militants,
[Fabulous work, guys!
It seems that more than 50 of the enemy were given their opportunity to meet those 72 virgins in the past day or so of fighting in the picturesque slum of Sadr City and 3 weeks ago, we took out 300 bad guys in a hairy 2-day battle in Najaf.]
though the militants deny that. Eight U.S. soldiers and at least 40 Iraqi police have been killed as well.
[...]

Also Wednesday, one U.S. soldier was shot and killed during an attack on troops patrolling Baghdad, the military said. Two Marines assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were also killed Wednesday, the military said. One Marine was killed while conducting "security and stability operations" in the volatile Anbar province, and the other died in a vehicle accident.

Rest in Peace, you heroes, both Americans and Coalition soldiers and Iraqi cops, too!
I mourn every fallen soldier and hate like hell that we've had to wage this war and send our wonderful young men and women to these hellholes to take these evildoers down, but as President Bush said, we "take this world as we find it" and the IslamoFascists declared war on us (and long before 9/11).
No-one will be happier than I to see this al-Sadr headache put away, either in jail or forced to assume room temperature, except maybe our Marines and the rest of the Iraqis who don't support him and are tired of his Mahdi Army killling fellow Iraqis.
Of course, he's being supported in all ways by Iran and that country should be next on our regime change list, because they're a problem.
Check out how the story continues with the Iraqi response to the Sadr insurgency:

Many delegates [to the Iraqi conference] said Wednesday they were fed up with al-Sadr, and later in the day, Shaalan said the government could raid the shrine within hours.

Now that the peace talks have not worked, "we have to turn to what's stronger and greater in order to teach them a lesson that they won't forget, and to teach others a lesson as well," Shaalan said.

"Today is a day to set this compound free from its imprisonment and its vile occupation," Shaalan said.
[Don't you love it?! Look who are the "occupiers" now!--Jen]

Shaalan said Iraqi forces were fully trained to oust militants from the shrine, and U.S. forces would not enter the compound.
[So we can let the Muslim Iraqi soldiers worry about how to attack their "holy shrine!".
Excellent.]

State Minister Qassim Dawoud said a government raid on the shrine would "be a civilized lesson for those in Fallujah, Samarra, Mosul, Yusufiyah or Basra. There is no lenience ... with those people."

Iraq, stand firm for democracy and civil dissent and against tyranny and violent insurgency by anyone, including the Iranians, Al-Sadr, the Mahdi Army or Saddam's Baathists!
Al-Sadr is a 2-bit thug and his "army" is just a bunch of rag-tag killer scum.
Certainly, the Marines can make mincemeat of them anytime, but I'm convinced that the Iraqi soliders can clean up their own back yard.
At some point, Iraqis must decide if they want another Islamic oligarchy not much different from Saddam's regime or if they want a secular democracy where all get to participate and benefit and that decision might as well happen now with them forcing an end to the Al Sadr problem.