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Iraq
Aide to Iraq's Sadr: "No handover of arms"
2008-03-31
Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will not hand over their weapons as part of a move to end a week of fighting in Iraq, a top Sadr aide said.

"The weapons of the resistance will not be delivered to the Iraqi government," he told journalists at Sadr's office in the holy city of Najaf.
The aide, Hazem al-Araji, also said that Sadr's followers had received a guarantee from the government that it would end "random arrests" of Sadr followers. "The weapons of the resistance will not be delivered to the Iraqi government," he told journalists at Sadr's office in the holy city of Najaf after distributing a statement from Sadr calling on followers to stop fighting.
Notice they're referring to themselves in the same terms as Hamas and Hezbollah.
Sadr's statement also called for the government to halt arrests of his followers and implement an amnesty law to free prisoners. "We confirm that there were guarantees taken from the Iraqi government to fulfill all the points in this statement. Thus, no more random arrests," he said.
Sounds like a claim of victory to me. Don't let it stand unless you enjoy paying high interest credit cards.
The Iraqi government launched a crackdown on Sadr followers in the southern city of Basra last week. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered them to surrender and has offered cash in return for heavy and medium weapons handed over by April 8.
Posted by:gorb

#9  I'm also in agreement wid #5 ED - Radical Islam including SADR + IRAN still needs to revitalize + regroup while also stopping local US entrenchment. THEY NEED NEW SOURCES OF $$$ AS WELL AS MORE OF THE OLD.

Also on FOX NEWS AM > IRAN is suffering from SERIOUS NATIONAL ECONOMIC DISTRESS/DURESS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-03-31 19:27  

#8  FOX NEWS AM > Guest Analyst - argues that SADR has actually emerged the BETTER/STRONGER? from this incident, as he only need show that HE REMAINS A POTENT POWER BROKER/PLAYER INSIDE IRAQ VV THE IRAQI GOVT. A DE FACTO MIL VICTORY FOR SADR WOULD BE GREAT, BUT NOT REQUIRED AT THIS TIME.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-03-31 19:21  

#7  well are we gonna let them regroup again thne have too do the same shit gain in afew months and fuck theses guysd up gould fuck al sadr he has no power anymore and i think he is dead and somone put out a ataement for him
Posted by: sinse   2008-03-31 18:35  

#6  Have the turncoats all been identified?
Posted by: gorb   2008-03-31 17:21  

#5  Sadr City can wait. This is about destroying the gangs in Basra and reclaiming stolen oil revenue. That's where the house to house searches and arrests will happen
Posted by: ed   2008-03-31 16:40  

#4  Given the escalating strength and competence of the Iraqi Army, Security Forces and the Police, in a few weeks, they might not have a choice in the matter.

I would say that the odds are less than 5-1 that Maliki will order a veratable house to house sweep of Sadr City for weapons and other party favors.

As for Moqtada, he might just find himself invited to a blanket party in Baghdad.

I'll leave it up to greater and more knowledgable minds than mine, but I would say that we can expect a coordinated forced disarmament of the Mahdi tin hat brigade.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Texas   2008-03-31 16:24  

#3  Notice they're referring to themselves in the same terms as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Resistance™ seems to be a big meme, for the arabs' collective self image, perhaps because, deep down they see themselves are besieged by outside forces (modernity, the Real World, plus, they're big on victimology coupled with delusions of grandeur and a marked tendancy to predation, see quradawi explaing the 72 or so military campaings of old mo' as "self defense", the usual excuse).
So, it's a big buzzword for all the movements rallied against those outside forces, starting with Israel seen as a refutation of the natural islamic order (the dhimmi by nature kicking the living sh*t out of the Master Race & Master Religion over and over, especially in the warfare department, a big no-no for people who have a perception of manhood based on how much you can hurt the "other").
Anyway, it's like a code-word which loses all significance over being abused (like racism or fascism in the West), just like when suicide-bombing civilians is "Resistance". Gibberish, really.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2008-03-31 14:59  

#2  Arms, heads, feet...we'll take whatever ya got.
So I guess this means we'll see Mr. Tooth Decay's boys in, what, about six months, for their biannual ass kicking? And he can watch it all over again on Tehran Action News...
Posted by: tu3031   2008-03-31 14:45  

#1  Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will not hand over their weapons

It's perfectly OK to pry them from their cold, dead hands.
I recommend it to a weapons turn-in, then you know they won't just turn around and get more guns.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2008-03-31 14:36  

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