Imam Muktada al-Sadr arrested in Baghdad

[Red State Rebel]

CAIRO, April 13 (Itar-Tass) - The U.S. troops arrested radical Shiite Imam Muktada al-Sadr in Baghdad on Tuesday. The report came from Hazem al-Araj, his closest associate, who is the head of the Baghdad bureau of the “Mahdi army” group

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=683737&PageNum=0

[DenverDem]

1. Jihad away!

Open season on our troops now.

[David Dunham]

4. Sadr is in Najif.

[Red State Rebel]

2. Does this mean Fallujah can sleep peacefully tonite?

I hope so!

[NashVegas]

3. Ya Know

If I were the US Army, I wouldn't bother with Sadr, I'd be looking for his military strategists.

[BostonTeaParty04]

5. Isn't Araj the Arajji guy, who got carted off during the clerics talks

at the sheraton? Ugh.... need to take an arabic language course!

probably a diff guy.

The you know what is going to hit the fan.

This is so perfect... bush will really have GREAT stuff to report tonight. The evildoer is in custody.

The timing is just soooooooooo uncanny.

[displacedtexan]

6. For the next 1400 years (if the world survives this)...

The Shiia will still be telling this story to their children.

[htuttle]

7. I think TASS is confused

It was Hazem al-Araj who was reportedly arrested in Baghdad, not al-Sadr.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x482774

Unless everyone ELSE is confused, and TASS has it right...:crazy:

[theHandpuppet]

8. I think you are right...

... and TASS is wrong.

[NashVegas]

11. We'll Give It a Little Bit

and if this isn't confirmed shortly (you know it will because every news organization will put it through the echo chamber) we lock.

[davhill]

9. Did Itar-Tass get the names reversed?

[Daisey Mae]

10. LET THE GAMES BEGIN.....

Obviously the" co-olition" haven't had enough fighting yet...... now the whole country will join in.....O BOY !!! What a mess... can we say Civil war yet? ....

[Daisey Mae]

12. HOPEFULLY

it is not Sadr that they arrested.....

[ncrainbowgrrl]

13. We created a coalition

Sure did. Go Bush. </sarcasm> We got people who hate each other to kill other people that they've learned to hate. A coalition of the willing and ready to go... up into scary scary times. *sigh*

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Tass is the only one running that story

[Vogon_Glory]

15. Martyrdom On The Cheap?

Whatever abstract sympathies I may have for individual Iraqis who want their country back, I don't particularly care for that little Iraqi Shi'ite-style Bob Jones Junior Muktada al-Sadr. Getting arrested by US troops might have been a shrewd manouver on his part: if he gets arrested he gets a jail cell with at least half-way civilized accomodations without being blown away by the US military.

[NashVegas]

16. Conflicting Reports

Sofia:

US troops have arrested Shiite Muslim radical leader Moqtada al Sadr's top aide, according to reports. Sheikh Hazem al-Araji told reporters he had been arrested by members of the Coalition force. Conflicting reports suggested it was actually Al Sadr who was arrested.

This London:

Earlier today a top aide of the militant Shia cleric dubbed America's enemy number one was arrested amid dramatic scenes in Baghdad. Hazem al-Araji, who is close to wanted radical preacher Moqtada al-Sadr, was seized by US troops as he left a hotel in the Iraqi capital.

He was later released but the pressure on al-Sadr, whom American commanders have vowed to "capture or kill", is escalating. The moves risk enraging the Shi'ite population, which has remained largely peaceful.

I think I'm about to lock this thread.