In big concession, militia agrees to let Iraqi troops into Sadr City

[Traveling_Home]

Source: McClatchy Washington Bureau

BAGHDAD — Followers of rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr agreed late Friday to allow Iraqi security forces to enter all of Baghdad's Sadr City and to arrest anyone found with heavy weapons in a surprising capitulation that seemed likely to be hailed as a major victory for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.

In return, Sadr's Mahdi Army supporters won the Iraqi government's agreement not to arrest Mahdi Army members without warrants, unless they were in possession of "medium and heavy weaponry."

The agreement would end six weeks of fighting in the vast Shiite Muslim area that's home to more than 2 million residents and would mark the first time that the area would be under government control since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. On Friday, 15 people were killed and 112 were injured in fighting, officials at the neighborhoods two major hospitals said.

It also would be a startling turnaround in fortunes for Maliki, who'd been widely criticized for picking a fight with Sadr's forces, first in the southern port city of Basra and then in Sadr City.


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Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/36530.html

[Narkos]

1. Sadr's been misunderestimated from the beginning

and his movement should do well in the provincial elections in the fall. We're just being outplayed and outfoxed over there. It's embarassing....

[AZ Criminal JD]

3. Did you read the OP? Sadr lost.

[ohio2007]

4. Moqtada al-Sadr orders Iraq PM out ofBasra

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3244022&mesg_id=3244022
six weeks ago folks thought mookie was going to proclaim himself as ruler of Iraq.

He's still holed up in Iran.
His movement will fade if funding from Qom dries up.
jmo

[bjobotts]

10. They really just one their monthly incentive checks. Can't we just pay Sadr to take Iraq off our ha

[bjobotts]

11. There is no Iraq gov outside the green zone. Neighborhoods controlled by tribal leaders

[bjobotts]

12. With huge walls, segregated, and cleansed. Nobody's running anything

[bjobotts]

13. They're all just running around in it waiting for us to leave. Heck of a job there, Mullohas

[seriousstan]

5. You are delusional. Mookie was getting his ass handed to him,

He was getting whooped and tried to ask for a ceasefire. The US and AI continued to assault. Then he threatened to withdraw the ceasefire. The US and AI continued to assault. Now he says the Us and AI are allowed to do exactly what they have been doing for weeks.

Mookie is hiding in Iran killing himself trying to think of a way to retain what little power he currently has. He knew that if the US and AI continued, he would be powerless and without followers.

[Narkos]

6. Read the post

and am still not convinced. I think the general in charge of the Quds Force is really calling the shots. Sadr knows he can't win militaryily, but he can win politically. That's why Maliki went down to Basra to begin with. The Sadrist movement is a lot bigger than people realize, and while Iran may not necessarily like Sadr, he's an Iraqi nationalist, which in the eyes of Iraqis is a good thing. I don't think he lost anything.

[seriousstan]

7. Winners don't ask for ceasefires.

[Narkos]

8. That's what the Bushies would have you believe

Calling for ceasefire may advance Sadr's strategic interest

[AZ Criminal JD]

16. Yes, because he wants to stay alive.

[Selatius]

2. Al Sadr is just doing it so he can find another avenue to get back into parliament through elections

He can claim that he played the role of moderate, and if Al-Maliki or the US attempt to attack the Mahdi Army again, he can say they broke the agreement and are not serious about seeking peace.

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. NB. "The Iraqi forces, not the American forces, can come into Sadr City and search for weapons,"

.
.
.

From the posted article:

Sadr officials long have claimed that their militia has no heavy weaponry, and Sadr has condemned those with such munitions.

Sadr supporter Araji, however, said the agreement specifically barred American forces from entering Sadr City.

"The Iraqi forces, not the American forces, can come into Sadr City and search for weapons," Araji said. "We don't have big weapons, and we want this to stop."
__________________________________________________________________

Also note, from the same article:

"Members of Maliki's Dawa Party and the powerful Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq met with Sadr officials on Thursday and Friday to come up with a 14-point agreement to end the weeks of fighting, which has hindered the flow of food and water into Sadr City. The agreement was then passed to Sadr and Maliki for final approval, said Baha al Araji, a Sadrist legislator.
__________________________________________________________________

I'm curious to see what all those 14 points are -

Sadr isn't making concessions for nothing - he still wants to see the US out of his country asap, as do a majority of Iraqis.

But the USA is gonna stay, they've got troops in Afghanistan, the Gulf and Iraq

IRAN is pretty much surrounded by the USA's War-Machine,

as was the plan.

[ohio2007]

15. Why all of a sudden, is the Mahdi army afraid of Americans ?

When al Sadr was still in Iraq, he was quite the firebrand leader but......

Huge Firefight in Sadr City, Night

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d26_1210317846




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wniGFm_jgRI


I'm curious to see what all those 14 points are -

one of those 14 points is the surrender of those with outstanding warrents for their arrest

"The Iraqi forces, not the American forces, can come into Sadr City and search for weapons," Araji said.

"We don't have big weapons, and we want this to stop."


Maybe they feel they can bribe a fellow Iraqi to not search every nook for weapons above those two AK-47's per male citizen allowed by Iraqi law ?

[ohio2007]

14. Signs of normalcy in Iraq's Sadr City amid cease-fire

BAGHDAD (Map, News) - Militants were withdrawing from the streets and shops were reopening in Baghdad's Sadr City on the first day of a cease-fire between Shiite extremists and U.S.-backed Iraqi forces following two months of intense clashes.

Authorities reported no violence Sunday.

"Today, people are very happy and very optimistic," said Sadiq Jaafar, a 30-year-old father. "Last night for the first time in more than 40 days we were able to sleep without being woken up by explosions or gunfire."

snip

http://www.examiner.com/a-1385537~Signs_of_normalcy_in_Iraq_s_Sadr_City_amid_cease_fire.html


US Soldiers reaction;

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b98_1199055052