Sadrists strike deal to end Baghdad fighting

Source: AFP

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The movement of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Saturday it had struck a deal with Iraqi officials to end weeks of fighting in Baghdad that left another 13 people dead overnight.

Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, the spokesman for the cleric's office in the central shrine city of Najaf, said the deal reached with a government delegation would be effective from Sunday.

"We will stop the fire, stop displaying arms in public and open all the roads leading to Sadr City," Obeidi told AFP.

"This agreement will be executed from tomorrow. The Sadr movement has agreed to the contents of the deal and it has now become an official document.

Obeidi, who took part in the negotiations leading to the clinching of the deal in Baghdad, said the two sides had reached agreement on most issues.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080510/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_080510095056

pocket book. Can't be having any of that while there is money to be made.

1. Never trust anything Sadr says. Right now he is trying to find a way get back his credibility with the Shias. Sadr will play this like he is working toward peace while ordering some of his militias to continue to fight. Once the US and Iraqis fight back against these militias, Sadr will say that Shia civilians are being murdered and the JAM militias are fighting back to defend themselves.

2. The US forces in Iraq would like nothing better than for this to be true. No one wants to have to go into Sadr City but it is a sanctuary for the JAM militias and it is where the rockets targeting the Green Zone are coming from (The counter battery radar can pinpoint the rockets points of origin). Everyone is hoping that Sadr can be sidelined politically because it will be costly to do it militarily.

3. Sadr and his followers are the last big threat to the Iraqi government. The remnants of AQI have been pushed to Mosul and cannot launch any major offensive operations. There still is organized crime and corruption in Iraq and always will be, but that is a law enforcement issue not a security issue. However, if Sadr's JAM Militias actually disarm, the Iraqi government will have the conditions necessary to stabilize the country and be able to concentrate on reconstruction instead of worry about security.

same official crap I can get from any corporate media source.

The puppet "government" of Iraq is incredibly corrupt, and incredibly inept. They are of absolutely no benefit to the actual people of Iraq, they are only of benefit to the U.S. corrupt government, and the various contractors and business partners who prop them up.

The U.S. military is being used to the kill the native citizens of a country that the U.S. unlawfully invaded and is occupying. It is dropping bombs on civilians because it is taking the side of despots against the common people as it always does.

Sadr represents the closest thing to an effective nationalist resistance movement that the much-abused and violated people of Iraq are able to muster.

The U.S. needs to get out and let the Iraqis sort themselves out -- and if it means overthrowing the Malaki government, more power to them.

sw

"Who are you going to believe: me or your lying eyes?"

My job in the military is to call in air strikes. We are not "dropping bombs on civilians." I'm not going to sit here and type out everything you have to do and all the clearances you have to obtain before you are allowed to drop any ordnance on a target because it would take to long and I doubt you would understand how hard it is to do. (This is not a swipe at you intelligence, but a lack of experience in how hard it is to get commanders approval for an air strike).

Do mistakes happen? Yes. Are we intentional dropping bombs on civilians? Hell NO.

I've been there twice. I know what happened while I was there and I keep in touch with friends who are still there. I've seen this with my own eyes and worked with Shia and Sunni Iraqis. So please don't tell me I'm "spouting the same official crap" from the media.

You should not be there at all dropping ANY bombs on ANYONE.

You are being used to take sides in an internal power struggle in a foreign country that your government illegally invaded and is illegally occupying.

If you want to justify it to yourself, fine. Just don't bother trying to justify it to me, because I will never stop calling it bullshit.

sw

If we pull out right now, Iraq will slowly fall into a civil war that will draw in its neighbors as the Sunni nations fight Iran in a proxy war. The Kurds will declare independence, Turkey will freak out and invade. All of this will led up to a point where we'll be forced to go back in, even if it is to secure the southern oil fields because the price of oil has hit $250 to $300 a barrel.

Whether you like it or not, our best chance for long term peace in the region is for the current elected Iraqi government to succeed.

That is unless, you can give an alternative to that outcome?

Oh, and as far as the US Constitution is concerned, the war in Iraq is legal. If you don't like that, take it up with your elected representatives.

in that region.

"OUR"? best chance for peace in the region? Just who is this "our"? -- it sure isn't the common people who live there.

Iran isn't going to fight anyone, your "proxy war" scenario is just more bullshit.

sw

This is the government the Iraqis picked themselves and we might be "propping up" some other democratically elected leader in the fall after the Iraqis vote.

If you don't think Iran won't have the Badr Corps crawling all over Iraq helping the JAM go after the Sunnis as soon as we pull out, you haven't been paying attention. If you don't think the Saudis are freaked out about the idea of the Badr Corps controlling Basra and being that close to the Saudi oil fields that sit on lands with a Shia majority, you need to do some more research.

Oh and where is Sadr right now? Oh that's right, Iran.

I want to be clear here: I am NOT for going into or striking Iran.

However to say that Iran isn't trying to use Sadr and the JAM to control Iraq is ignorant.

So please just save your energy. I'm not buying what you're selling.

apparently with out blessing.

in Iraqi politics.

al Sadr IS the MSM's self appointed poster child of resistance in Iraq. Doesn't matter what the larger Shia tribes think of him let alone the Sunni or Kurds?

BTW al Sadr still has a warrent out for his arrest ( by the corrupt Iraqi govt. ;) )and is wanted on murder charges in Iraq. If he ever returns from exile, I wonder what Maliki ( who Sadr ordered out of Basra ) will do with him? Do you know which SHia clerics al Sadre is "allegedy" accused of killing in his home town ?

http://english.aljazeera.net/English/archive/archive?ArchiveId=2940

You don't like the opinions of others who have been ther,fine. Stick to your Rose colored Kool Aid media sources if other non MSM opinions piss you off that much

1. Never trust anything Sadr says. ...

2. The US forces in Iraq would like nothing better than for this to be true. ...

3. Sadr and his followers are the last big threat to the Iraqi government. ....


If you think the world will become a peaceful place the minute Obama swears in as president, .........
;)
You better hope events play out in the meantime to make it all look that way.


jmo

I hope your arms are tired.

foolish comments need to be weeded out of debates by those who prefer to do the "four year finger point" starting in '09.


goodbye

:rofl:

I wonder if this is part of the "deal" negotiated.

The Berlin type wall will encircle the city of over 2 million people.

Perhaps they will call it the "Freedom Wall".