Word: shying
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...causes. For him, though, it was as much about the fight as the cause. He shunned the light. He never gave public speeches or lectures. He is not known to have given any press interviews, not even to sympathetic or politically aligned journalists. Western reporters who sought the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hizballah's help to arrange a rendezvous were politely but sternly advised not to go there...
Then, in 2004, he launched two uprisings against the U.S. occupation. He then outmaneuvered his Shi'ite rivals in the political process and became the kingmaker who installed Maliki as Prime Minister. His militia was instrumental in carrying out thousands of reprisal killings after the February 2006 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, bringing Iraq to the verge of all-out civil...
...underestimated. And now it seems, the folks that matter in the Administration are making the same mistake again - pointing out his shortcomings and his inability to influence events. "That's a very optimistic way of looking at it," says Vali Nasr, author of The Shi'a Revival, of Satterfield's comments, "Moqtada al-Sadr still commands the largest social and political movement in southern Iraq." Nasr and others believe the Mahdi Army's leader is biding his time out to develop stronger religious credentials and strengthen his control over a militia. Sadr's game plan, it appears, extends far beyond...
...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...
...Lebanon is second on the neighborhood triage list, but only because no one has been killed in the last 24 hours, at least at this writing. On the other hand, since the Lebanese army fired on demonstrators in the Shi'a southern suburbs on January 27 - killing seven, five of whom were connected to Iran's proxy, Hizballah - there have been 11 attacks on the army. The only reason Hizballah has not responded more forcefully is that the time is not right. But a war in nearby Gaza might just be the perfect time...