Getting Away With Murder? - Najaf, MSNBC

Getting Away With Murder?

The Najaf ceasefire raises questions about when-and if-Moqtada al-Sadr will ever face trial on charges of murder and theft


By Melinda Liu
Newsweek
Updated: 7:29 p.m. ET May 27, 2004

May 27 - Many questions remain about today's "peace deal" between Coalition troops and renegade Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf. After weeks of bloody conflict that's left hundreds of rebels dead, Sadr's Mahdi Army militiamen began withdrawing from the center of Iraq's holy city. Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor confirmed that Iraqi security forces would take over control of government buildings and police stations occupied by Sadr's militia, and Coalition soldiers would gradually pull back.

Still, no one seemed to know if or when Sadr would disband his militia, or surrender to face charges which accuse him, among other things, of involvement in the April 2003 murder of moderate Shiite cleric Abdel Majid al-Khoei. Both were unshakeable demands of U.S. authorities in early April. But subsequent weeks of debilitating violence-and the looming June 30 transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis-may have reshaped priorities for the Coalition. Now, it seems, Sadr himself will negotiate the future status of his militia and his arrest warrants with Shiite political and religious figures.

Will Sadr get off the hook? One of several Shiite figures striving to mediate in the conflict, Mohammed al-Musawi, said the deal involves transforming the Mahdi Army into a "political organization" and delaying Sadr's prosecution until an elected government takes office after elections early next year.

Even if Sadr gives himself up to Iraqi authorities after June 30, as some sources say he is willing to do, many Iraqis now question whether he will-or should-be brought to trial. In an opinion poll last month, 31 percent of Iraqi respondents said they supported the pudgy-faced militant cleric, making him the third-most popular leader in the country. Today one Iraqi Governing Council member, Abdul-Karim Mahoud al-Mohammedawi, warned that Sadr's arrest would simply trigger ''an unending revolution.''

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the question is moot.

The propagandist terminology of the herd media is interesting. Vichy-style collaborators who ride in behind the tanks of the invaders are "moderates", those who stand up proudly for their people are the "extremist radicals"/etc..

i just wonder why we couldn't have done this a few weeks ago, hmm?

makes me wonder if knowing shit from shinola is part of the *plan*? but i wouldn't sniff too close to bushco shoe's to find out.