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Iraq-Jordan
Feelin' Lucky Are Ya' Tater? --Punk.
2004-08-19
He won't be tater much longer. He'll be a flat old chip!!!
...An official in the cleric's office, Haidar al-Tourfi, said he received a text message from al-Sadr saying: "Either martyrdom or victory."
Go for martyrdom. That, and $150 will get you a headstone...
On Wednesday, al-Sadr sent a letter to the Iraqi National Conference saying he agreed to their peace demands and that his fighters would lay down their arms and leave the shrine. Al-Sadr is known for flip-flopping on various peace deals with the fledgling Iraqi government.
... which he immediately did...
By Thursday, Iraqi officials were getting fed up with the firebrand cleric and his antics and vowed that an attack could be imminent within hours. Iraqi Minister of State Qassim Dawoud said that to prevent such an attack, al-Sadr must immediately disarm his Mahdi Army militia and hand over its weapons to the authorities. He also must sign a statement saying he will refrain from future violence and release all civilians and Iraqi security forces his militants have kidnapped. In addition, al-Sadr must hold a news conference to announce he is disbanding the Mahdi Army. "The military action has become imminent," Dawoud told reporters. "If these conditions are not met, then the military solution will prevail."
At which point more cannon fodder will be burned, while Tater hides in the holiest mosque he can find and threatens to destroy it...
After hearing Dawoud's threat, Sheik Abdul Hadi al-Daraji, a spokesman for al-Sadr in Baghdad, called for talks to quickly "stop the bloodbaths in the holy city of Najaf."
Oh, no! Not a bloodbath!
"What we want is for the parties to sit down and cooperate. To ask a side, or the Sadrist movement, to disarm, I think is not logical and not right.
To ask the government to disarm is pretty stoopid...
"They should rather sit around a negotiating table and determine what's right and wrong," he told Al-Arabiya television. The statement was made before al-Sheibani said al-Sadr rejected the Iraqi conditions...
Posted by:Ol_Dirty_American

#13  Mr. Tater has not worn his bands properly and will face the ultimate in Zionist Orthodonture punishment.... I will call upon his mother.
Posted by: Dr Irving Fleet speaking from the hereafter   2004-08-19 8:23:38 PM  

#12  Tater had to call time out 'cause he was late for his appointment at the orthodontist, about 25 years late
Posted by: cheaderhead   2004-08-19 6:35:36 PM  

#11  Let's get on with it, already! Too much talkin' up the place like it was the "Red October" Tractor Factory circa October '42...
_____________________________exasperated borg
Posted by: borgboy2001   2004-08-19 2:59:28 PM  

#10  Time for Tater to set up his spud cannon!! pH3Ar1!!1!
Posted by: Atropanthe   2004-08-19 12:15:20 PM  

#9  It's a Lie! Tater never touched me. He's a creepy dude for sure with funky teeth but as soon as he started coming on to me I split man.

You should see his pad, shit piled everywhere!
Posted by: Lucky   2004-08-19 11:27:15 AM  

#8  Most of the camera angles I have seen have been ones than are trying to make the crowd bigger than it is.

FlameBait-Is there any sign of an Iraqi or American Tank taking a shot "accidental-on-purpose" take out the Al-Jazzera camera position. Can't have an "Advantageous to Sadr" camera angle if by getting there you open your self up to a visit to the 72 dark-eyed virgins.
Posted by: BigEd   2004-08-19 11:13:12 AM  

#7  AFP, talking with the Oregon National Guard in old city, Najaf

Are the locals friendly? "It seems," says SFC Compton, who has joined his colleagues in an abandoned house where they are resting up and where they stock provisions. "They seem nice but really I don't know," he adds cautiously.


But he is wrong. The few residents who have stayed apparently want just one thing: to see the Americans finish off Sadr's militia as quickly as possible.


"The Americans are good with us," says 27-year-old Hassan Mohammad Ibrahim, who has been left alone in his home. "The militia, when they occupied the street, made us suffer. I want them out of here alive or dead."

"They ruined us," said Karim Hussein, a 38-year-old mason, who has dropped by his home to pick up a few possessions before leaving again. "It's time they were done with. Let the Americans attack and have done with them once and for all."
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2004-08-19 10:38:08 AM  

#6  Today, not likely. As I said yesterday, look for the Iraqis to start their offensive Sunday or Monday to take full advantage of the news cycle. The propaganda victory for all coalition parties is to great to let this golden wrapped opportunity pass. Look for one last trick from Mahdi Army similar to what the Chechens wanted to do with the Moscow Theatre.
Posted by: TomAnon   2004-08-19 9:52:19 AM  

#5  Must be crowded in that mosque. With all those "well" trained troops, somebody's gonna have a work accident.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2004-08-19 9:44:29 AM  

#4  Again, Im not sure those details will be worked out - I think theres a very high chance it will all fall apart and Iraqi govt forces will enter the shrine, if not Saturday than early next week.


That was me, yesterday. Looks like I got the date wrong.
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2004-08-19 9:42:09 AM  

#3  Meanwhile in Najaf, a mortar barrage slammed into a police station Thursday, killing at least seven policemen and wounding 31 others.

Pretty stupid. I guess that's where the term "getting fire up" came from.
Posted by: B   2004-08-19 9:39:52 AM  

#2  Yes it does. I have see 3 different figures of 1000, 2000, and now 3000 fighters at the Imam Ali Mosque. I am wondering if it's much less than the 1000 figure. Most of the camera angles I have seen have been ones than are trying to make the crowd bigger than it is.
Posted by: FlameBait93268   2004-08-19 9:33:28 AM  

#1  Something significant seems to be happening now...
Posted by: Lux   2004-08-19 9:25:32 AM  

00:00