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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Tater ’nuances’ it again - Cleric: I’ll comply on U.S. exit |
| 2004-06-12 |
| via AP from Miami Herald - Subscription Req’d Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr has told worshipers that he will cooperate with the new Iraqi prime minister if he works to rid Iraq of U.S. forces. Did that make sense to you? Nope, me neither. Bobby Reid must be a pseudonym, lol! BY ROBERT H. REID Associated Press BAGHDAD - A radical cleric whose uprising two months ago has left hundreds dead and threatened to enflame the Shiite heartland said Friday that he would cooperate with the new government if it works to end the U.S. military presence. Clarification: Hundreds of Madhi Army dead and there has been no "inflamation" except for sore Marine trigger fingers and Scots Guardsmen with dish-pan hands from cleaning their bayonettes. And the text is still clear as mud. Bobby, c’mon, what do you really do for a living? You can’t seem to write a concise sentence for shit, son. Meanwhile, a police station south of Baghdad was blown up in the fourth such attack on Iraqi security installations in less than a week. You left out the "by whom" part: Tater’s Twitters. The conciliatory tone by cleric Muqtada al Sadr came during a sermon read by an aide to a congregation in Kufa, scene of recent fighting between his Mahdi Army militia and U.S. forces. Did the "aide" go to nuance school? In the message, Sadr said, "I support the new interim government" and asked his followers to "help me take this society to the path of security and peace." Oh yeah, Tater’s in the lead, here. "Starting now, I ask you that we open a new page for Iraq and for peace," the message said. Um... a hudna? Sadr had dismissed the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi as a tool of the United States. But he apparently softened his stand under pressure from mainstream Shiite leaders, who brokered a truce in Najaf and Kufa this month between the Mahdi Army and U.S. forces. Pressure? Or continued lack of enthusiasm for joining up with a loser and dying in droves? OVERRIDING CONDITION In an interview Friday night with Al Arabiya television, Sadr’s spokesman, Ahmed al Shibani, said the cleric was ready for a dialogue with the government "on condition that it works to end the occupation and clearly announces to the Iraqi people and to the world that it rejects the occupation." Well that certainly clears everything up. Bobby - are you Tater in disguise? "It has to put a timetable for the end of the occupation," Shibani said. "This is the main and principled way to recognize this government and cooperate with it." Oh yeah - a deadline. Right. Got that from the moronic European Gov’ts, did you? No doubt Tater rides the shortest bus. The U.S.-led occupation formally ends June 30 with the transfer of sovereignty to Allawi’s government, and a U.N. resolution approved Tuesday by the Security Council sets a deadline of 2006 for ending the multinational military presence. Unless the twitters like Tater run home to Iran / Syria / Saudi or get themselves aced, whichever occurs first. The resolution also allows both the interim government and the one due to be elected in January to end the mandate for the force -- although that appears unlikely. Find a mirror, boy, they be talkin’ bout you, again. Remarks by both Sadr and his aide suggest that the firebrand cleric is bending to pressure from the influential mainstream Shiite clergy while trying to preserve his image as a leader who stood up to the United States. The word you’re looking for, Bobby, is ’salvage’ methinks. Or ’survival’. Better get some 8x10’s while you can, son - that may be the only surviving ’image’ of you. Although Sadr’s forces are still battling U.S. troops daily in Baghdad’s Sadr City district, the Americans forced the militia to abandon Karbala and to accept a truce this month in Najaf and Kufa. The truce has generally held despite a flare-up of fighting Thursday between the militia and Iraqi police. That was just a little test to see if they were a soft target. You can’t chew anything else, eh Tater? U.S. plans to reduce the American profile rest on the ability of Iraq’s security forces to maintain order in the face of insurgency and widespread lawlessness. If they show spine, we’ll let them have you. TESTED BY INSURGENTS However, insurgents have begun challenging that strategy through increased attacks on Iraqi police in a bid to sap morale and shake public confidence in the new administration. Time will tell. Of course, if it looks like they’re not ready - or are cooperating, we’ll bring the Varsity back onto the field, sonny. In the latest assault, assailants arrived in seven cars Friday afternoon at the police station in Yusufiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, and attacked the building with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, police Lt. Sattar Abdul-Reda said. Did they double-park? After the outgunned police fled, the attackers entered the building, rigged it with explosives and blew it up, Abdul-Reda said. He said police called for help from the U.S. military, but the troops reached the station five hours after the attack began. Anyone believe this is an accurate recounting of the facts? Nope, me neither. Try again people. Tater makes Skeery look positively resolute - and that takes some doing. Bobby Reid should return to Miss Debbi’s School of Cosmetology - he’s not cut out for journalism - even as loosely as that term is bandied about at the AP. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #5 Time for the snipers to move back into the line. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-06-12 6:33:34 PM |
| #4 I'll take the first boat to England and the moment he shows up at Cantebury, he's toast. |
| Posted by: David 2004-06-12 12:24:58 PM |
| #3 Will someone rid me of this troublesome cleric? |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2004-06-12 7:54:02 AM |
| #2 Tater: "I voted for the new government before I voted against it." Say, ever notice that you never see Muqtada al Sadr and John F. Kerry in the same place at the same time? |
| Posted by: Mike 2004-06-12 7:37:09 AM |
| #1 Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr has told worshipers that he will cooperate with the new Iraqi prime minister if he works to rid Iraq of U.S. forces. So if the new Iraqi PM does al Sadr's dirty work, he will go along with the PM. What a guy.... |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-06-12 5:56:24 AM |