Saturday, April 26, 2008
Reconciliation watch: Moqtada "changes his tune"
Thursday, we heard that Iraq's leading Sunni groups had ended their boycott of the government of Iraq. Today the leading Shiite holdout, the mad mullah Moqtada al-Sadr, has similarly "changed his tune":
Shiite Muslim leader Muqtada al Sadr , who a week ago threatened "open-ended war" against Iraq's U.S.-backed government, on Friday called on his followers to halt their attacks on Iraqi security forces and to concentrate instead on ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq...
"So brothers in the (Iraqi) army, the police and brothers from the Mahdi Army, stop the bloodshed and let's be one hand to achieve justice, security and prosperity," the statement read....
His latest announcement repositions him in support of Iraq's mostly Shiite security forces, which his followers have battled since late last month, when U.S.-backed Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki launched a nearly weeklong assault on Sadr's forces in the southern port city of Basra....
In Sadr's latest message, he emphasized that there was to be "no war among Iraqi brothers in one homeland, whatever sect or race they belong to."
He called the killing of an Iraqi by his forces "haram," or forbidden. He asked his followers to calm down and to solve critical problems peacefully. He emphasized a goal of a sovereign Iraq free of occupiers and foreign involvement.
If this keeps up for a few more months, the only "Iraqis" who will need to "reconcile" will be Iranians and jihadis. Does Nancy Pelosi still think the "surge" is a failure, or is she parsing up a new way to declare defeat?
6 Comments:
By 
tomcog, at
Sat Apr 26, 08:21:00 AM:
Great light went on for me yesteray: the Taliban are standing down in Afghanistan, Al-Sadr is standing down in Iraq, the Sunnis are joining the Iraqi govt. I think they have figured out that we need an enemy, and if we don't have one, we will have to go home and leave them alone!! Middle-eastern thinking at its finest?
Now all we have to do is stop attacking them. --Trond Stephansson
By 
, at
Sat Apr 26, 09:32:00 AM:
Oddly, the American public has figured out our victory and it's really positive implications way before these dinosaur Dems. To persuade Pelosi and her ilk, a symbolic victory is needed, like capturing Zawahiri and/or bin Laden. Common sense seems to have been sacrificed by the Dems on the issue of the GWOT.
By , at
Sat Apr 26, 11:27:00 AM:
They have declared a ceasefire between sects in Iraq, in order to more forcefully oppose our occupation. Hearts and minds indeed.
By , at
Sat Apr 26, 12:23:00 PM:
Marriage, family, handicap, pro-life, illegal immigrant and father. These are just a short list of words that the left has attempted to redefine. Why not victory?
By antithaca, at
Sat Apr 26, 06:07:00 PM:
"They have declared a ceasefire between sects in Iraq, in order to more forcefully oppose our occupation. Hearts and minds indeed."
ok...and in the meantime (between the ceasefire and our withdrawal, which is apparently taking years to materialize) we plant the seeds of institutionalized rule-of-law, largely secular government, same form of federalism (vs. the absurdly top-down states that dominate the region)...and bank that that winning out in the end.
Wouldn't be the first time we've made that bet. Or won it.
By Dawnfire82, at
Sun Apr 27, 09:12:00 PM:
"They have declared a ceasefire between sects in Iraq, in order to more forcefully oppose our occupation. Hearts and minds indeed."
So how are things in the Twilight Zone? Haven't seen any episodes lately.
