Word: shied
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When the envelope was finally opened, Moqtada al-Sadr's message couldn't have been tamer. Having sent out sealed envelopes to Shi'ite mosques around Iraq containing his verdict on the future of the cease-fire observed by his Medhi Army, Iraq waited on tenterhooks for the message to be read at Friday prayers. "I'm extending the freeze of army activity," al-Sadr's statement read, ordering his militia to remain standing down until mid-August, when presumably the cleric will reconsider. Despite pressure from within his movement's ranks to end the cease-fire that, they complain...
...pause, which has been a major factor in bringing down the overall level of violence in Iraq. Sadr had sent some signals to the Americans suggesting he was likely to extend the cease-fire. And U.S. officials, such as Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, believe that the Shi'ite firebrand may be changing his ways...
...officials are hoping that Sadr will largely abandon Kalashnikov politics and focus his movement more on social causes as the need for militias to protect neighborhoods from Sunni extremists recedes. "I kind of think it will hold," Crocker said of the ceasefire. "The Shi'a are just as sick of militia violence as the Sunnis are." But Sadr is notoriously unpredictable. And while allowing for some optimism, U.S. officials remain unsure what will unfold. "It truly is a wait-and-see moment," Petraeus said...
...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...
...cease-fire had its origins in intra-Shi'a rivalries. Most observers were surprised last August when Sadr's Mahdi Army militia announced a six-month cease-fire, shortly after bloody Shi'ite infighting erupted in Karbala. Thousands of pilgrims had gathered in the city for a Shi'ite festival. Some Sadrists who turned up for the event got into an altercation with local security forces, who are largely loyal to the Sadr movement's chief Shi'ite factional rival, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC). Things escalated, and a street tussle turned into a gun battle that left more...