Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Der Moqster's face
Via Glenn Reynolds, it appears that Moqtada al-Sadr is looking for a face-saving way to surrender (emphasis added):
Iraq’s largest and most dangerous militia will voluntarily disband if Shia scholars advise its leader to do so, officials said yesterday — a dramatic move that could quell much of the fighting in the war-torn country.
Aides to Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr said that he would send delegations to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a moderate religious leader in Najaf, and to senior clerics in Iran to consult on whether he should stand down his 60,000-strong al-Mahdi Army.
The sudden announcement — the first time that the rebellious cleric had offered to disband his forces — came as US and Iraqi troops were poised for a key offensive into his Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City.
It is almost as though al-Sadr is trying to help David Petraeus get through his testimony this morning! Anyway, it is a great tragedy (for me, at least) that I will not be able to see how Nancy Pelosi and her minions frame this in their questioning of Petraeus. Those of you with more free time on your hands please report back in the comments.
3 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Apr 08, 11:36:00 AM:
I, for one, feel a certain foreboding today. It's not that Petraeus won't deliver a well-reasoned, measured testimony. He will, though quite obviously his actual statements are rather beside the point, Democratically-speaking.
No, today Petraeus will talk about the centrality of Iran to the present conflict. Iran, perhaps coincidentally but probably not, has also announced that today is "good news day" for all of it's worldwide supporters of nuclear arming. The good Gen. Petraeus aside, that's my greatest worry.
"So as it wages war against the US in Iraq and against Israel in Lebanon and Gaza, supported by its Syrian and North Korean allies, Iran moves brazenly and swiftly forward in its bid to acquire nuclear weapons. And as it moves, it drags the US and Israel ever closer to a great war. The question is how can the US be expected to handle the coming conflagration when it demurs from explaining its eminently more manageable current situation either to itself or to its public?"
By , at
Tue Apr 08, 01:22:00 PM:
For some reason, German Carnival floats that deal with American politics often have an anal fixation . What would Dr. Freud say? Those messy, unorganized Amis?
By , at
Tue Apr 08, 01:25:00 PM:
Please erase my previous comment.Wrong thread.Thanks
