Muqtada Al-Sadr Aide Arrested in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested a top aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday in Baghdad, his office said.

Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, al-Sadr's media director in Baghdad, was captured during a 2 a.m. raid on a mosque in the eastern neighborhood of Baladiyat, an official in al-Sadr's office said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

The U.S. military said special Iraqi army forces operating with coalition advisers captured a high-level, illegal armed group leader in Baladiyat, but it did not identify the detainee. It said two other suspects were detained by Iraqi forces for further questioning.

The raid comes as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has pledged to crack down on Shiite militias as well as Sunni insurgents in a planned security operation to quell the sectarian violence in Baghdad amid concerns that his reluctance to confront the Mahdi Army of his political backer al-Sadr led to the failure of two previous crackdowns.

http://my.earthlink.net/article/int?guid=20070118/45b05050_3ca6_1552620070119-1620665309

Like him or hate him, he sure has a lot of supporters in Iraq.

Aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr arrested in Baghdad.
Breaking on http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

we've captured already. It's probably just a ploy by the Sadr controlled government to make us think they're actually doing something.

after Bush's "get tough on the Iraqis" speech there needed to be a token example of bipartisan enforcement, like Maliki is REALLY going to clean up Baghdad and come down hard on both factions. :eyes: My guess is al_Sadr's front man was dragged in the front door in chains and then whisked out the back door to a waiting Limo for his return trip home. Maliki is no fool, he's not going to bite the hand that keeps him in power. Without al-Sadr's protection Maliki would be nothing more than a fine, red mist covering a bombed out car. I'm sure this symbolic gesture was worked out beforehand between Maliki and al-Sadr. I expect no honest attempt by Maliki to round up and punish both sides of the Iraqi civil war on an equal basis. Presumably he likes breathing to much to do that.

Hearsay is proof. Osama wins.

- U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested a top aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday in Baghdad, an official in his office said.

Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, al-Sadr's media director in Baghdad, was captured in the eastern neighborhood of Baladiyat, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

The U.S. military said special Iraqi army forces captured a high-level, illegal armed group leader during a raid in eastern Baghdad, but it did not identify the detainee.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6356384,00.html

Is the guy really a death-squad leader, and will Maliki lobby to get him released?

Or is he just a pro-Sadr propagandist, and Maliki actually wants him locked up for that? The Iraqi government has shut down offices of two major pan-Arab satellite news outlets and one Iraqi pro-Sunni one in recent months, for supposedly inciting violence. Al Arabiya and Al Sharqiya have just shrugged it off and kept reporting, but Al Zawraa has turned into 24/7 propaganda videos (mostly U.S. soldiers getting killed, over and over) and anti-government slogans.

The Maliki government isn't exactly free-press-friendly. Although, the charges of inciting violence have some merit to them, too; you can't be a neutral reporter unless you do it from a fortified compound the way the western media does. If an Iraqi reporter is alive, it probably means they're reporting the story from one side or the other; press freedom has pretty much been an academic concept since 2004.

Will he totally capitulate to the occupation or will he finally after all have a scrap of national dignity?

I know it!

that happens now that the 'surge' in on----and it is ON>

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1994458,00.html