Al-Maliki Orders Shiite Cleric's Release Day After US Arrest

[sabra]

http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_1778-Al-Maliki-Orders-Shiite-Clerics-Release-Day-After-US-Arrest.html

Al-Maliki Orders Shiite Cleric's Release Day After US Arrest

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered the release of a cleric affiliated with anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr a day after his arrest by US forces, Iraq's official television station al-Iraqiya reported Wednesday.

There was no immediate clarification of why al-Maliki ordered the release of the Shiite cleric Mazen al-Sa'edi, the office manager of al-Sadr's group in the town of Karkh.

Al-Sa'edi was reportedly arrested by US forces Tuesday in the Sho'la district in western Baghdad, with media reports saying the Americans had suspected him of having directed kidnappings, killings and torture of Sunnis and Shiites and also attacking US forces.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (L) speaks next to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during a news conference in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad October 18, 2006. Maliki travelled to the holy city of Najaf on Wednesday and met Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the leading Shi'ite cleric in Iraq.
REUTERS/ALI ABU SHISH

[acmavm]

1. He ordered the guys release because he knows who is really

the power in Iraq.

[hlthe2b]

2. yes.... and that he (al Malliki) is not long for this world if he doesn't

This is such a cluster fuck, I can not even begin to imagine any good coming from it for decades... I am so very sorry and ashamed for what we have done to Iraq... Hollow words,I know from Americans who feel(and are) helpless to stop this...

[sabra]

3. Reuters Breaking: U.S. forces release Iraqi cleric's (al-Sadr) aide

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1827073.htm

U.S. forces release Iraqi cleric's aide

BAGHDAD, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Wednesday released a senior aide to a pro-government Shi'ite cleric and militia leader after the Iraqi government requested he be freed, the U.S. military and the Iraqi government said on Wednesday.

Sheikh Mazin al-Saedi, an aide to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, had been detained by U.S. military forces during a raid on his Baghdad house on Tuesday along with four men.

"He has been released at the request of the government of Iraq," Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. military, told Reuters.

U.S. commanders and officials have been demanding that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki rein in militias and their networks, blamed for some of the worst sectarian violence gripping Iraq.

This is after al-Maliki requested the release:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2567714

[Kagemusha]

4. US forces don't appreciate they just dodged a bullet

All-out conflict with Sadrist forces is going to be ugly.

[rodeodance]

6. its just a pause for now----the inevitable is yet to come.

[mike_c]

5. the look on al-Sadr's face at the press conference says it all....

"Why is this dead man still wasting air?"

[yellowcanine]

9. If al-Sadr takes over the Shiite area of Iraq, his regime will make Saddam

look like a humanitarian. And all hell will break loose, with Iraq breaking into three parts followed by widespread ethnic and religious cleansing to get everything sorted out. Hundreds of thousands will die and arguments about what the U.S. should do will be moot. U.S. supply lines will be cut off and it will be Saigan 1975 all over again.

[enigma000]

10. But with Saigan 1975 US combat troops had already left

It was just a few advisers on the ground.

[yellowcanine]

11. Even worse. U.S. troops will be there without supplies. It will be

Khe Sanh 1968 and Saigon 1975

[rodeodance]

7. so, WE/IRaqi gov is not in charge???

[acmavm]

8. Nope. Never were. Never will be.

[Supersedeas]

12. Al-Malaki is the Decider