Iraqi Shi'ite cleric tells followers to target U.S. troops fighting Islamic State
Source: Reuters
Powerful Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr instructed his followers on Sunday to target U.S. troops deploying to Iraq as part of the military campaign against Islamic State.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday the Pentagon would dispatch 560 additional troops to help Iraqi forces retake the northern city of Mosul in an offensive planned for later this year.
Sadr, who rose to prominence when his Mahdi Army battled U.S. troops after the 2003 invasion, posted the comments on his official website after a follower asked for his response to the announcement.
"They are a target for us," Sadr said, without offering details.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-usa-idUSKCN0ZX0XL?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29
uawchild
(2,208 posts)Red Mountain
(1,737 posts)Iran may feel they need a return on their investment.......
Archae
(46,345 posts)He doesn't want a Hellfire missile up his ass.
uawchild
(2,208 posts)Minor war lord/ clan leader posts a sentence on Facebook was it? lol Ok it was really his official website, but still. C'mon.
What's the real narrative that this story us trying to push? That our enemy is now the Iraqi Shia?
Very strange story in regards to why it's even a story.
Archae
(46,345 posts)He was the big guy a few years ago, getting all sorts of attention and publicity, now ISIS is getting all the attention in Iraq, so Sadr is making stupid remarks to get attention.
uawchild
(2,208 posts)Does someone want him dead now?
I think your hellfire missile remark is on target, pun intended.
happyslug
(14,779 posts)Both his father and Father in law (who was also his uncle, marrying cousins is the norm in Iraq) were high ranking Shiite leaders:
Muqtada al-Sadr is of Iraqi and Iranian ancestry. His great-grandfather is Ismail as-Sadr. Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, Muqtada al-Sadr's father, was a respected figure throughout the Shi'a Islamic world. He was murdered, along with two of his sons, allegedly by the government of Saddam Hussein. Muqtada's father-in-law was executed by the Iraqi authorities in 1980. Muqtada is a cousin of the disappeared Musa al-Sadr, the Iranian-Lebanese founder of the popular Amal Movement.[7]
In 1994, al-Sadr married one of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr's daughters.[8] He has no children.[8]
His father was a major opposition of Saddam, till Saddam had him killed in 1999:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mohammad_Sadeq_al-Sadr
Just a comment, the Sadr is probably the most important person in Iraq (with the possible exception of the present Ali al-Sistani of Iraq).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_al-Sistani
uawchild
(2,208 posts)I stand corrected, he's obviously not a minor warlord.
Again, thanks.
I do feel that his brief and vague comment that was the subject of the OP article is being over blown in our press, possibly for political reasons.
Jopin Klobe
(779 posts)"Former Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith is claiming President George W. Bush was unaware that there were two major sects of Islam just two months before the President ordered troops to invade Iraq, RAW STORY has learned. In his new book, 'The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created A War Without End', Galbraith, the son of the late economist John Kenneth Galbraith, claims that American leadership knew very little about the nature of Iraqi society and the problems it would face after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein." ...
[link:http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/ambassador_bush_didnt_know_there_were_two_sects_of_islam/|
... "Those that live by the dumbass ... die by the dumbass." ...
Renew Deal
(81,871 posts)Botany
(70,582 posts)Less then 2 months before W started his unneeded war in Iraq to make $$$$ for
Dick Cheney he didn't know the difference between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.
FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)Hope it happens before any of his followers act on his advice.
Backwoodsrider
(764 posts)Not sure if press is building the US military a nother enemy for us to drop our bombs on or the Shiite have tired of the financial gifts the US is giving them to stay on our side. Either way I am afraid its going to be a long hot summer.
As far as bombing Sadr I don't think him getting killed would go over very well with ANY Shiite and would probably start a fire storm in Baghdad proper.
Either way I think this statement by Sadr is a major happening, stay tuned.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)I don't think this necessarily means he is going to start having his minions attack us now, but it does mean Ash Carter better not get big ideas.
maxsolomon
(33,400 posts)While the US does the heavy lifting in the ISIL-controlled Sunni areas of Iraq, that he has no intention of ever setting foot in.
The Shiia have no intention of targeting these troops, if they can even find them. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.