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| Iraq-Jordan |
| US Troops Storm Tater City |
| 2004-08-19 |
| US forces have begun storming the al Sadr suburb of Baghdad, reports say. The area has been tense between American forces and supporters of the Shi'ite radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr. America used dozens of tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles to over run the cleric's stronghold. Members of the Mehdi army seemed to melt away, Reuters news agency said. The US troops called on the militiamen to hand over their arms. The move follows a similar threat to attack the Mehdi army in the southern city of Najaf where al Sadr has been holed up in a two week stand-off. He is reported to have struck a deal with the interim government to end the uprising, just hours after the defence minister threatened a "decisive battle" to remove the cleric from the holy city. Confusion surrounded exactly what al Sadr had agreed to. The government was demanding he and his army lay down their arms and withdraw from the holy shrine where they are holed up. The government was also calling for him to enter the political process. But it later appeared al Sadr was calling for the American troops to withdraw from Najaf before he complied - something that is unlikely to happen. |
| Posted by:Howard UK |
| #17 Robert Crawford (and Weird Al) is an agent for the Bush Attack Machine!! :( |
| Posted by: Anonymous4021 2004-08-19 1:40:57 PM |
| #16 Sorry to rain on your parade guys, but Jesus would soooooo not need a gun to settle things over there. Santa nearly whipped his ass. You're assuming that Gandhi has the strength and muscles to load, prime and fire the M2. :D I've seen it. And, really, if you can't believe Weird Al, who can you believe? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-08-19 12:59:15 PM |
| #15 #13 You're assuming that Gandhi has the strength and muscles to load, prime and fire the M2. :D |
| Posted by: Anonymous4021 2004-08-19 12:50:51 PM |
| #14 Sorry to rain on your parade guys, but Jesus would soooooo not need a gun to settle things over there. He could just go totally Ten Commandments on their *bleep* That would be worth the popcorn. The muslims believe that the messiah would be a fighter with a weapon. What a pussy. |
| Posted by: peggy 2004-08-19 12:50:26 PM |
| #13 The Jesus would kick some ass with an HK G36C. Wouldn't last long against Gandhi with a .50 cal. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-08-19 12:29:22 PM |
| #12 It's just that mosque thats got everybody all in a bind. Tater and his thugs matter nothing. They know that as long as they hold tight to the property they have a chance to succeed. Iran is prolly frothing at the thought of having such a holy place. Islamic holy places, for god sake. Ol muhammed was a tricky guy to set that whole fake BS in motion. Something has got to happen regarding such. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-08-19 12:28:40 PM |
| #11 No Mitch H, the Mehdi army is called the Mahdi army because Sadr wants association with the Mahdi. I'm not sure if he claimed he was himself but the army is Sadrs and the connection is pretty blatant. LIberalhawk, I get your point but the Jews at the time of Jesus made the point pretty clear that they didn't agree he was the Christ and didn't want him screwing around. If you don't believe its sort of heresy to go around proclaiming your god-hood or whatever. Sadr's coming pretty close to that and nobody is saying anything about it. |
| Posted by: yank 2004-08-19 12:27:32 PM |
| #10 And yes, I know, Jesus isnt holed up with 1000 armed thugs somewhere Shit. And I'd been waiting for the phone call for a while. The Jesus would kick some ass with an HK G36C. |
| Posted by: Anonymous4021 2004-08-19 11:58:12 AM |
| #9 The government was also calling for him to enter the political process. Terribly terribly stupid. This Sadr jerk has already shown that he's more than willing to resort to armed force to get what he wants, which is not compatible with the political process. Barring some miraculous last minute change of heart, this is not worth expending excess amounts of effort on, and the course of action that will cause the least amount of pain for Iraq would be to dispatch Sadr and his followers quickly. Anything less will simply allow the pain of the current situation to just needlessly continue. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-08-19 11:25:49 AM |
| #8 Yank - you're getting Sadr confused with bin Laden, who recently seems to make some pretense of being a Sunni-style Mahdi. Not quite sure how that works, theologically. Muqtada al Sadr is a Sayeed - that is, he's a descendant of the Prophet. As far as I can tell, there's no debate about that - the Sadrs used to be heap-big Shia clerics - as senior as you can get. Of course, there's more than a few sayeed running around the world, as I understand the situation. But Sadr has an actual Ayatollah back home in Qom who's his source of actual legitimacy. Sadr isn't trained enough to be trusted to tie his own shoes, theologically speaking. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-08-19 11:20:29 AM |
| #7 Yank, it means they either dont care about what is going on in Iraq, or dont want to be seens as meddling in Iraq, or dont want to attack someone who is attacking the Americans. Look, Jews dont believe that Jesus was the Messiah. On most days im silent on the issue. This says nothing about theology, but mainly about my sense that publicly attacking the beliefs of my fellow Americans is not good or wise (or neighborly) thing to do. And yes, I know, Jesus isnt holed up with 1000 armed thugs somewhere. So its not comparable. But that just emphasizes that Sadr is, and is seen, as a political figure more than as a messiah, except among his own followers. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-08-19 10:10:42 AM |
| #6 I'll repost the Maps link here, too. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-08-19 10:08:55 AM |
| #5 Question for Murat or other Muslims. Isn't Sadr claiming to be the Mahdi (thus the Mehdi army)? Isn't that presumptious and offensive to Muslims who don't believe he is the Mahdi? Is the silence on this issue from Muslims an endorsement of his Mahdi-hood, or is it simply Muslims refusing to say bad things about other Muslims? |
| Posted by: yank 2004-08-19 10:01:21 AM |
| #4 Classic. Hey look here - look at Najaf. Yes we are all over Najaf. Yes we are stoppgin to talk at Najaf. Najaf Najaf Najaf. then: Baghdad BAM! They turn their attenion there, then it will be Najaf - BAM! Classic misdirection. Bravo to the commanding General there! |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-08-19 9:43:07 AM |
| #3 Fox sez the US is getting it on in Najaf. Bout time |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-08-19 8:44:50 AM |
| #2 "The streets of Sadr City were strewn with chicken feathers today as memebrs of the Mahidi Army retreated. Our correspondent on the scene, Gabriel Pullet, has more . . ." |
| Posted by: Mike 2004-08-19 8:26:42 AM |
| #1 Members of the Mehdi army seemed to melt away, "run awayyyyy" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-08-19 8:04:27 AM |