Kowabunga

Muqtada al-Sadr Still Biding Time

The other day I was greeted with an article that the terrorist Muqtada al-Sadr may end his sixth month cease-fire. The update on Fox News is that al-Sadr is not quite ready “to rumble.”

From FoxNews:

“According to an order by Sayyid Muqtada, activities of the Mahdi Army will be suspended … for another six month period,” al-Sadr’s aide Hazim al-Aaraji said, using an honorific for al-Sadr during his sermon at the Kazimiyah mosque in Baghdad.

I suspect the main reason he isn’t ready to restart hostilities is that the U.S. presence is still high and Bush is still in office, with a possibility that McCain may be the next president. And McCain won’t put up with the likes of al-Sadr in Iraq.

“This extension of his August 2007 pledge of honor to halt attacks is an important commitment that can broadly contribute to further improvements in security for all Iraqi citizens,” the military said in a statement. “It will also foster a better opportunity for national reconciliation and allow the coalition and Iraqi security forces to focus more intensively on Al Qaeda terrorists.”

“Those who continue to honor al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr’s pledge will be treated with respect and restraint,” it said. “Coalition and Iraqi security forces will continue to work closely with the Iraqi people to protect them from these criminals who violate the law and dishonor the commitment made by al-Sayyid Muqtada.”

The article points out that the cease-fire came about after a number of clashes with the Badr militia, which is a U.S. partner in securing Iraq for Iraqis.

The problem I have here is not the cease-fire itself, but that al-Sadr is being treated with rather than dealt with as the terrorist megalomaniac that he is. He has been allowed to maintain control of a substantial terrorist organization in Iraq with the intention of using it to gain power over all of Iraq. Add to this the fact that many members of al-Sadr’s organization have been calling for an end of the cease-fire, and some have splintered off into subgroups that have been subsequently dealt with by Coalition Forces.

Involvement in fighting among Shiites was chipping away at the young cleric’s reputation as an uncompromising nationalist leader seeking to restore Iraq’s full sovereignty and undermining his bid to become a national leader.

All al-Sadr needs to achieve his goals of turning Iraq into another Iran is for the U.S. to elect Hillary or Obama. If that should happen, expect an escalation of activities by al-Sadr as U.S. Forces are drawn down. At that point, not only will al-Sadr have achieved his goals, but the Democrats will have successfully turned Iraq into another Vietnam where the U.S. abandoned its ally to the darkness of totalitarianism.

Tags:

Iraq Muqtada al-Sadr Terrorism

Tags: Iraq, Terrorism