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Iraq-Jordan
Tater Saves His Neck Tells Militia to Turn Over Shrine
2004-08-19
An aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said the militant leader instructed his followers late Thursday to hand control of a revered shrine to top religious authorities in Iraq.
Whatever happened to "victory or death"?
It turned into "Victory or a nice quiet place in the country with good takeout near-by."
A top al-Sadr aide, Aws al-Khafaji, told the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television station that the cleric asked his militia to give control of the Imam Ali Shrine compound to officials from the office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric. The government had called on al-Sadr's followers to disarm, evacuate the shrine and disband their militia or Iraqi forces would storm the holy site and wipe them out.
They saw all those Kurds, who weren't impressed by the size of their turbans...
Al-Arabiya television showed a copy of a letter al-Sadr reportedly sent to his followers late Thursday. The handwritten letter had al-Sadr's office's seal, but not his signature, the station said.
"I didn't sign it, so it's not binding, so I can do anything I want."
"I call on the religious authority again to receive the shrine so that it won't be taken by the hands of the enemy and of treason. I have offered it to you before and you have refused before the (latest) incidents," the letter read. However, al-Sadr refused to disband the militia, according to the letter, saying it belonged to Imam Mahdi, the Shiite messiah. "Let everyone know that this army is the Imam Mahdi's base, and I have no right to ever disband it," the letter said.
"I'm only runnin' it for him, see?"
It also rejected any political role for al-Sadr's followers. "I will never take part in any political work as along as the occupation is there. I will continue, all my life, to build Iraq, its freedom, independence and liberation," the letter said.
What about all those dead guys who believed in you? Wotta putz.
Posted by:Fred

#26  Daisy cutters were designed to clear helicopter landing zones in the jungle. The daisies in question were the trees in the area where a landing was planned. If entire trees can be cut down by a daisy cutter, I don't think you need to strain hard to figure out what might happen to an old mosque.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-08-20 1:10:22 AM  

#25  Will a daisy cutter hurt the mosque? Could it be dropped with one of the new GPS guided parachutes to make sure that it eliminates the graveyard infestation. I wonder how many Mahdi would be enthusiastic about death by simultaneous immolation and asphyxiation.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-08-20 12:55:23 AM  

#24  Interesting that Sistani's still in London... = Green light to Allawi. Bring it to a conclusion already.
Posted by: lex   2004-08-20 12:13:45 AM  

#23  I sure would like to have some very large (30m square) solar mirrors right about now, that I could focus in on the front doors of the Shrine. Aim two outside focus mirrors toward a central focus, crank up the heat to about 3500 degrees, and let the sun do the work for me... Listen to the sizzle as long pig bacon fries. Most Americans are too soft-hearted to fight a really NASTY war. With people like al Sadr, the nastier we fight the better. Let them know that no matter how nasty they think they are, we can be ten times worse, and still not use "banned" weapons - just a little ingenuity.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2004-08-19 10:08:00 PM  

#22  #15,16,& 21. Now we know who has been writing over Col. Flagg's signature.
Posted by: GK   2004-08-19 8:54:13 PM  

#21  More or less precisely Seafarious. On the money or thereabouts.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-08-19 8:16:14 PM  

#20  I have been gone for a few days, but it seems to me that controlling the variables by and large determines the outcome. We need to control:

1. Food
2. Water
3. Ammo
4. Weapons
5. Other supplies
6. The Media
7. Comm with the outside world
8. Propaganda

1 and 2 and 5 we can largely control by cordoning off the shrine.

3 we can do the same. They probably have lots of ammo stored, but it is still a finite amount.

4. They have lots of weapons. They cannot get any more.

5. Kicking the media out was a step in the right direction (finally!)

7. Hopefully any phone lines are cut to the shrine. Cell phones can be neutralized by cutting off the repeaters. Sat phones can be jammed or compromised.

8. Propaganda can be Allawis if he wants. Tater has been cut off from his audience, as long as the Iraqi government puts its foot down on this issue. Tater needs to have the rug pulled on his forum.

Since the variables can now be controlled, the heat can now be cranked up on these thirsty chaps and the siege can be done in earnest. It will take time but the Tater issue can now be concluded, if Allawi has the will to do it and take the heat.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2004-08-19 7:43:45 PM  

#19  Sistani & the Shiites

Cool name for a band...
Posted by: Raj   2004-08-19 6:58:11 PM  

#18  "I don't think what ever gonna happen is happening, but it's damn close to getting ready to start happening..."

In other words, things are more like they are now than they've ever been before?
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-08-19 6:47:41 PM  

#17  i think it is happening - we jsst underestimate how long it takes to happen - as of noon, per CNN there were still sadrists in the streets outside the shrine, and there was heavy sniper fire going both ways. Once we clear that, and the Iraqis get set to go in, theyre gonna have sniper fire coming down at them from the shrine, and theres gonna have to be suppression fire (by USMC) for the commandos to even get close. Then the raids begin, with the first few probably focused on gathering info. Meanwhile tater sends out contradictory info, tries to cut a vague deal with someone, and maybe even tries to run for it throught the chaos, as zen suggests.
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2004-08-19 6:46:36 PM  

#16  Ship, are you saying that "there are known unknowns, and there are unknown unknowns?"
Posted by: Seafarious   2004-08-19 6:45:21 PM  

#15   am i the only one who gets the feeling that things are happening alot faster now, and that we're gonna get a couple of days of thick fog of war?

Nope, I don't think what ever gonna happen is happening, but it's damn close to getting ready to start happening and it's unlikely the press will be informed of the happening.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-08-19 6:41:38 PM  

#14  yup, z, but if he runs for it we keep after him, and this time he doesnt have the shrine to protect him.

Shrine, schoolhouse, orphanage, hospital ... they're all the same to Sadr. Cordon off the shrine and screen every single person coming out of it. These are the hardcore insurgent elements in Najaf. Time to secure their identities or detain them or both. No one gets out unless they are screened, least of all Sadr himself. If this does not occur, expect another iteration of this to happen all over again. Sadr is not embarrassed by any sort of failure or betrayal upon his own part. He is uncontaminated by such concepts as integrity or honor. All that matters to him is his own political and material success. Both of which must be brought up short, pronto!
Posted by: Zenster   2004-08-19 6:38:33 PM  

#13  Looks like Allawi's not buying it. AC130s thumping the vicinity, to include the cemetary. I'll be happy to change today's screamer...
Posted by: Fred   2004-08-19 6:36:58 PM  

#12  am i the only one who gets the feeling that things are happening alot faster now, and that we're gonna get a couple of days of thick fog of war?
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2004-08-19 6:21:47 PM  

#11  Yet another delaying tactic. Tomorrow he will be all 'To the last drop of my blood' on us again....

I wonder what he is waiting for? Does he think the Iranian army will come rescue him? Perhaps he thinks Allen himself will come lend a hand....
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-08-19 6:11:51 PM  

#10  yup, z, but if he runs for it we keep after him, and this time he doesnt have the shrine to protect him.
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2004-08-19 6:06:44 PM  

#9  Note to World: Keep your eyes on the prize.

What about Sadr?!? To hell with the shrine. Sadr must be detained upon vacating the premises. Anything less constitutes yet one more incremental victory for this supreme waste of skin. All of Sadr's pronouncements are merely prestidigitation and misdirection. Stop following the magician's visible hand and look at the one that's under the table. Sadr must be apprehended for there to be any solution forthcoming, nothing less is acceptable.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-08-19 6:04:43 PM  

#8  Wuss.
Posted by: Seafarious   2004-08-19 6:03:32 PM  

#7  toldja. as soon as he see's that he's in danger, he becomes yer bestest buddy. What a friggin' hypocrite.

And his followers sorta remind ya of the palis -- useful idiots. who die. unpleasantly.
Posted by: PlanetDan   2004-08-19 5:39:45 PM  

#6  Fox just showed a live shot of the fighting ........someone is getting the crap knocked out of them.
Posted by: Anonymous5668   2004-08-19 5:29:56 PM  

#5  From the live pictures of Najaf on BBC (new24), it doesn't seem like any ceasefire is in place. There are explosions occuring fairly regularly (say once every 15 mins), and there are large fires evident on the horizon.
Posted by: Lux   2004-08-19 5:20:41 PM  

#4  What about all those dead guys who believed in you?
- - - - -
Sadr would say, "They got their virgins, so shaddap. They aren't my problem anymore. I gotta worry about hundreds of itchy fingered Kurds when I leave."
- - - - - -
We ought to "Yasin" him when he shows his ugly face. Then let his Maddy Army use the paint scrapers to clean up his mess.
Posted by: BigEd   2004-08-19 5:17:58 PM  

#3  Not if he isn't shutting down the Mahdi Army. Allawi (and the US) wants him out of the way. The trick is doing it so that Sistani & the Shiites don't kick after the fact. This may buy Tater a day, so that kickoff is sometime Saturday through Monday. But he's going to meet his 72 raisins sooner rather than later.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-08-19 5:12:41 PM  

#2  Al-Arabiya television showed a copy of a letter al-Sadr reportedly sent to his followers late Thursday. The handwritten letter had al-Sadr's office's seal, but not his signature, the station said.

This is the Sadrite version of "hemming and hawing". Why this jerk is being humored repeatedly is beyond me. Send in the Iraqi commandos to kill him already.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-08-19 5:11:00 PM  

#1  Does this mean we are not getting rid of him?
Posted by: Ol_Dirty_American   2004-08-19 5:05:40 PM  

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