Word: sadr
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Militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr aired his sternest threat yet to the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, vowing "open war" unless the U.S.-backed military assault on his followers ends...
...giving you my final warning," al-Sadr said in a written statement calling for a halt of attacks against his militia strongholds in Baghdad and southern Iraq. Al-Sadr's message urged the Iraqi government to end its crackdown and take the "road of peace." If not, al-Sadr said, "I will declare it open war until liberation...
...Sadr's political power appears to be growing even as the crisis wears on. A new report by Refugees International says the Mahdi Army ranks are swelling with new recruits drawn from internally displaced people who've gotten aid from the militia. "Displaced men have joined armed groups," said the report, which put the number of internally displaced people in Iraq at 2.7 million. "As a result of the vacuum created by the failure of both the Iraqi government and the international community to act in a timely and adequate manner, non-state actors play a major role in providing...
...demand, which came before another burst of Sunni insurgent violence north and west of Baghdad, is unlikely to be heeded by Maliki. Still, it underscored the political weight of Sadr's voice. Sadr's Mahdi Army has effectively stopped an advance by U.S. and Iraqi forces into its strongholds in Baghdad and Basra after weeks of fighting. On Monday Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said American troops operating at the edge of Sadr City in support of Iraqi troops would not press deeper into the area. That means any decisive push into the heart...
...conflict in Sadr City remained stalemated Tuesday. There were no reports of serious fighting, but Iraqi government forces clung to their foothold in the area by manning checkpoints. "The city still under siege," said Sadr City resident Ghofran al-Saidi, a member of parliament loyal to the cleric. "The Iraqi troops stopped me twice from going out although I told them...