Word: sadr
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Senior U.S. officials in Baghdad don't seem too worried that the six-month deadline Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr set for his militia's unilateral cease-fire is about to lapse. "There has been some communication back and forth that appears to indicate that it will continue," said Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. U.S. officials say the cease-fire was a major factor in lowering violence across Iraq, where an ongoing surge of U.S. forces is now focused primarily on fighting Sunni extremists. "I would say it probably caused us about...
...Wednesday, echoing an earlier threat, a spokesman for Sadr and the Mahdi Army said that if the Shi'ite warlord did not reissue his cease-fire order by Saturday, it would be officially over. Petraeus, Odierno and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are all holding out hope that the cease-fire will be maintained, however. Petraeus said U.S. commanders were keeping up a running dialogue with leadership from the Mahdi Army. "There are numerous discussions ongoing," said Petraeus, who's personally spoken with senior figures in Sadr's circle. "And there's talks at my level, sometimes directly...
There had been reports that Mughniyah slipped into Iraq after the 2003 invasion, presumably to organize Iraqi Hizballah cells. Today, U.S. officials told TIME he had been training Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in Iraq. Hizballah certainly has made no secret about its intention to help the Iraqi...
...believes Sadr has been spending most of his time in Iran. So what's he up to? He is likely in the Shi'ite religious center of Qom studying to achieve the higher rank of ayatollah, a position that would allow him to issue fatwas, and garner more respect from the Shi'ite establishment. Such a rank usually requires two decades of study, but Sadr, say aides, wants to complete it within two years. In that time, he'll receive the religious equivalent of a mail-order diploma. "No Shi'ite Iraqi really believes he is going to study...
...what he does when he comes back on the scene that should have U.S. officials worried. Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who closely follows developments in Iraq, calls Sadr's decision to rein in his forces a "pretty huge" part of the recent progress. But he isn't convinced that the young cleric has graciously taken himself out of the game without a long-term strategic agenda in mind. O'Hanlon doesn't see Sadr as a weaker player, "but a person who is deciding if he wants to play politics or go back...