Word: sadr
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...could dismember Muqtada al-Sadr's Shi'ite militia, a positive domino effect would follow. President Bush should tell Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that unless he lets us crush al-Sadr's forces, we'll pull out. Iraq is the strangest war the U.S. has ever fought, in the sense that the Iraqis seem to hate one another more than they hate...
...While we're at it, an additional 21,500 troops also cannot do anything about the other forces undermining Bush's Iraq, including Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, the Sunni insurgency in Anbar, and Syria. We'd need a surge of 500,000 troops to deal with them...
...Among Maliki's major political assets were his ties to Moqtada al-Sadr. The argument was that Maliki could help moderate the fiery Shi'ite militia leader. And so, when sectarian violence began escalating dramatically in February 2006, U.S. forces repeatedly held back from a major confrontation with the Madhi Army at Maliki's behest. But there has been no sign of moderation on Sadr's part. Indeed, in November, Sadr ordered the 30 parliamentarians and four ranking government officials of his political bloc to end participation in the government in protest of Maliki's meeting with President Bush. Meanwhile...
...When Sadr's supporters first withdrew from Maliki's coalition government, both sides downplayed the rift. Nasar al-Rubaie, the head of the Sadr bloc in parliament, described the boycott as a temporary protest, saying the move did not represent an indefinite withdrawal from the government. And politicians of Maliki's Dawa party said the Sadr faction was likely to return in a short time, perhaps a matter of days. But both sides seem to have lost interest in remaking an alliance since then. Sadr has made no meaningful move to rejoin the government, even as Maliki's office seemed...
...indeed Maliki has decided to break with Sadr, the move in essence opens the way for U.S. forces to attack the Mahdi Army without political hindrances. In fact, as relations between Maliki and Sadr soured toward the end of 2006, the Prime Minister began to take a harder line with Sadr, at least rhetorically. Last week Maliki himself vowed to confront all armed groups, airing a thinly veiled threat to the Mahdi Army. But Maliki has issued similar statements before without offering any action. It's been difficult to tell whether Maliki lacks the will or simply the ability...