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| Iraq |
| After Iranian mediation, firebrand Iraqi cleric orders halt to attacks |
| 2008-04-03 |
| Acting in response to a direct appeal by parliamentarians from the governing Iraqi Shiite parties and the intercession of the Iranian government, firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr Sunday ordered his Mahdi Army militia to halt its resistance to a government offensive, leading Iraqi members of parliament said. Sadr's Mahdi Army militia took heed of the order in Baghdad , and the Iraqi government announced it would lift the 24-hour curfew starting early Monday in most parts of the capital. But fighting continued in the oil hub of Basra, where the government offensive against Shiite militias went into its sixth day with only limited gains. So far, 488 people were killed and more than 900 wounded in the offensive, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said. The backdrop to Sadr's dramatic statement was a secret trip Friday to Qom, Iran's holy city and headquarters of the dominant Iranian clergy, by parliamentarians of Iraq's governing Shiite parties. There they held talks with Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani , commander of the Qods ( Jerusalem ) brigades of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and signed an agreement with Sadr, which formed the basis of his statement Sunday, members of parliament said. Ali al Adeeb , a member of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's Dawa party, and Hadi al Ameri , the head of the Badr Organization and once the military wing of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq had two aims, lawmakers said: to ask Sadr to stand down his militia and to ask Iranian officials to stop supplying weapons to Shiite militants in Iraq . "The statement issued today by ( Muqtada al Sadr ) is a result of the meetings," said Jalal al-Din al Saghir , a leading member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq . "The government didn't have any disagreement with the Sadrists when it went to the city of Basra. The Sadrist movement is the one that chose to face the government." "We asked Iranian officials to help us convince him that we were not cracking down on the Sadr group," said an Iraqi official, who asked for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject. He described the talks as successful but said hard-line Sadrists could goad the government into over-reacting and convince Sadr that the true aim of the Iraqi Security Forces is to destroy the Sadrists. "I will not be surprised if the whole thing collapses," he said. In addition to Sadr, who is in Qom pursuing religious studies, Iraqi lawmakers met Suleimani, said Osama al Nejafi , a legislator on the parliamentary committee formed to solve the Basra crisis. "An agreement was signed," Nejafi said, referring to Sadr. " Iran was part of the problem and an effective part of the negotiations." Sadr issued a nine-point statement Sunday saying he would renounce anyone who carried arms against the government and government forces. The statement also asked the government to halt all raids against the Mahdi army, end detentions of militia members who had not been charged and implement the general amnesty law. To preserve the "unity" of Iraq Sadr called for an end to "all armed manifestations in Basra and in all provinces." The Qom discussions may or may not bring an end to the fighting but they almost certainly have undermined Maliki - who made repeated declarations that there would be no negotiations and that he would treat as outlaws those who did not turn in their weapons for cash. The blow to his own credibility was worsened by the fact that members of his own party had helped organize the Iran initiative. "The delegation was from the United Iraqi Alliance (dominated by the Dawa party and the Supreme Council of Iraq ), and the Prime Minister was only informed. It was a political maneuver by us," said Haider al Abadi , a legislator from Maliki's Dawa party. "We had evidence (that Muqtada and Iranian-backed militants were fighting security forces) and we sent people urgently...If we had been waiting for one year in Baghdad we wouldn't have had this result." The delegation is expected to return to Iraq Monday. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "Yo, Mucky! You're gettin' your ass handed to ya!" |
| Posted by: Chief Running Gag 2008-04-03 12:44 |