Word: sadr
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...aftermath of the battle for Basra, the mood was quieter in Iraq as the two main contenders took pains to maintain the relative calm since the fighting stopped. The government forces of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Mahdi Army of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr kept gingerly away from each other. Throughout Baghdad and Basra on Friday, there was only sporadic violence, with attacks targeting Iraqi military units and the police...
...Coming in the wake of the resolution to last week's fighting in Basra, this latest move only confirms to many Sadr's breath of power and the limits of Maliki's. Three days into his poorly executed military campaign on Basra - initially commended by Washington as a decisive show of strength by the government - the Prime Minister extended by ten days a deadline for militants to lay down their arms. Now, despite what the U.S. Embassy and Coalition forces have called a successful run in Basra, Maliki appears to have eased the pressure off the Mahdi Army entirely...
Government spokesman Ali Dabbagh demurred, explaining to TIME: "We are giving armed individuals one more chance to hand over their weapons, giving them a chance not to break the law." He would not comment on what motivated Maliki's latest move. But the office of Moqtada al-Sadr had complained multiple times of government violations of the terms of last week's negotiated truce, and hinted at the potential for a relapse if those terms are not respected...
...year, Hammadi's optimism was looking prescient. Sunni insurgents I had known for years--men who had sworn blood oaths to fight the "occupier" until their dying breath--were joining forces with the Americans to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq. The vehemently anti-American Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had agreed to a cease-fire with the U.S. military, and his ill-disciplined militia, the Mahdi Army, seemed to be keeping its end of the bargain...
...clearly plans to preserve both his political and military personas. He was smart to declare a unilateral cease-fire last August. That allowed the Maliki government and the Americans to do the dirty work of clearing Sadr's militia of unsavory - and unpopular - criminal elements. But then the coalition began to round up more and more legitimate Sadr lieutenants, perhaps precipitating some of last week's confrontation in Baghdad. One of Sadr's principal demands when he met with the delegation of Shi'ite political leaders to discuss the new cease-fire was that more of his forces be released...