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...
during the protest on Friday.
Senior religious and political figures in Iraq, including, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, have in recent days called on the Baghdad government not to rely on foreign powers in the battle against the ISIL Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
terrorists.
Ayatollah Sistani has repeatedly called on all Iraqi people and political factions to unite and support the government and army in the fight against ISIL.
The United States says it is planning to intensify
General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that ground forces may be needed if current efforts to combat the ISIL fail.
Political experts believe that the real objective of the so-called international coalition recently formed by Washington to fight ISIL is to expand the US military presence in the region.