Moqtada Tateral-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
has told a security member it is religiously impermissible to get training by U.S. security instructors.
Answering faith-related inquiries on his online portal, Sadr was asked by a man, who identified himself as Ahmed al-Iraqi, a member of "Iraqi internal security services", whether it was permissible to get training by U.S. troops.
"We get training on the use of arms and the detection of explosives, but, sir, we are trained by the occupier coalition forces in Iraq," read the inquiry.
"I am not pleased with that, but it is our commanders’ orders," the agent added. "Be noted that I do not sympathize, eat, talk or jab with them, is that still considered an assistance to occupiers?".
Sadr answered that "this is forbidden, and if you may, get a religious exception (edict) to do it".
The authenticity of the inquiry and the identity of the asker could not be verified.
Sadr has been a central player in the political and militancy scene in Iraq, and had for some time, following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, been branded an enemy to the United States, being an ardent opponent to foreign military presence in the country.
A U.S.-led alliance had backed Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
turbans since their emergence in 2014 and until the group’s defeat last year’s end. While Iraqi officials were quoted saying it was expected that coalition troops would draw down their numbers after IS defeat, coalition officials said they were keeping a few thousand troops for training purposes.