Article

2004-08-19 Iraq-Jordan

Tater ~~Saves His Neck~~ Tells Militia to Turn Over Shrine

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Posted by Fred 2004-08-19 4:59:20 PM|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Does this mean we are not getting rid of him?

Posted by Ol_Dirty_American 2004-08-19 5:05:40 PM|| 2004-08-19 5:05:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Al-Arabiya television showed a copy of a letter al-Sadr reportedly sent to his followers late Thursday. The handwritten letter had al-Sadr's office's seal, but not his signature, the station said.

This is the Sadrite version of "hemming and hawing". Why this jerk is being humored repeatedly is beyond me. Send in the Iraqi commandos to kill him already.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-08-19 5:11:00 PM|| 2004-08-19 5:11:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Not if he isn't shutting down the Mahdi Army. Allawi (and the US) wants him out of the way. The trick is doing it so that Sistani & the Shiites don't kick after the fact. This may buy Tater a day, so that kickoff is sometime Saturday through Monday. But he's going to meet his 72 raisins sooner rather than later.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2004-08-19 5:12:41 PM|| 2004-08-19 5:12:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 What about all those dead guys who believed in you?
- - - - -
Sadr would say, "They got their virgins, so shaddap. They aren't my problem anymore. I gotta worry about hundreds of itchy fingered Kurds when I leave."
- - - - - -
We ought to "Yasin" him when he shows his ugly face. Then let his Maddy Army use the paint scrapers to clean up his mess.

Posted by BigEd 2004-08-19 5:17:58 PM|| 2004-08-19 5:17:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 From the live pictures of Najaf on BBC (new24), it doesn't seem like any ceasefire is in place. There are explosions occuring fairly regularly (say once every 15 mins), and there are large fires evident on the horizon.

Posted by Lux 2004-08-19 5:20:41 PM|| 2004-08-19 5:20:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Fox just showed a live shot of the fighting ........someone is getting the crap knocked out of them.

Posted by Anonymous5668 2004-08-19 5:29:56 PM|| 2004-08-19 5:29:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 toldja. as soon as he see's that he's in danger, he becomes yer bestest buddy. What a friggin' hypocrite.

And his followers sorta remind ya of the palis -- useful idiots. who die. unpleasantly.

Posted by PlanetDan 2004-08-19 5:39:45 PM|| 2004-08-19 5:39:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Wuss.

Posted by Seafarious 2004-08-19 6:03:32 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:03:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Note to World: Keep your eyes on the prize.

What about Sadr?!? To hell with the shrine. Sadr must be detained upon vacating the premises. Anything less constitutes yet one more incremental victory for this supreme waste of skin. All of Sadr's pronouncements are merely prestidigitation and misdirection. Stop following the magician's visible hand and look at the one that's under the table. Sadr must be apprehended for there to be any solution forthcoming, nothing less is acceptable.

Posted by Zenster 2004-08-19 6:04:43 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:04:43 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 yup, z, but if he runs for it we keep after him, and this time he doesnt have the shrine to protect him.

Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-19 6:06:44 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:06:44 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Yet another delaying tactic. Tomorrow he will be all 'To the last drop of my blood' on us again....

I wonder what he is waiting for? Does he think the Iranian army will come rescue him? Perhaps he thinks Allen himself will come lend a hand....

Posted by CrazyFool 2004-08-19 6:11:51 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:11:51 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 am i the only one who gets the feeling that things are happening alot faster now, and that we're gonna get a couple of days of thick fog of war?

Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-19 6:21:47 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:21:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Looks like Allawi's not buying it. AC130s thumping the vicinity, to include the cemetary. I'll be happy to change today's screamer...

Posted by Fred 2004-08-19 6:36:58 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:36:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 yup, z, but if he runs for it we keep after him, and this time he doesnt have the shrine to protect him.

Shrine, schoolhouse, orphanage, hospital ... they're all the same to Sadr. Cordon off the shrine and screen every single person coming out of it. These are the hardcore insurgent elements in Najaf. Time to secure their identities or detain them or both. No one gets out unless they are screened, least of all Sadr himself. If this does not occur, expect another iteration of this to happen all over again. Sadr is not embarrassed by any sort of failure or betrayal upon his own part. He is uncontaminated by such concepts as integrity or honor. All that matters to him is his own political and material success. Both of which must be brought up short, pronto!

Posted by Zenster 2004-08-19 6:38:33 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:38:33 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 am i the only one who gets the feeling that things are happening alot faster now, and that we're gonna get a couple of days of thick fog of war?

Nope, I don't think what ever gonna happen is happening, but it's damn close to getting ready to start happening and it's unlikely the press will be informed of the happening.

Posted by Shipman 2004-08-19 6:41:38 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:41:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 Ship, are you saying that "there are known unknowns, and there are unknown unknowns?"

Posted by Seafarious 2004-08-19 6:45:21 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:45:21 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 i think it is happening - we jsst underestimate how long it takes to happen - as of noon, per CNN there were still sadrists in the streets outside the shrine, and there was heavy sniper fire going both ways. Once we clear that, and the Iraqis get set to go in, theyre gonna have sniper fire coming down at them from the shrine, and theres gonna have to be suppression fire (by USMC) for the commandos to even get close. Then the raids begin, with the first few probably focused on gathering info. Meanwhile tater sends out contradictory info, tries to cut a vague deal with someone, and maybe even tries to run for it throught the chaos, as zen suggests.

Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-19 6:46:36 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:46:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 "I don't think what ever gonna happen is happening, but it's damn close to getting ready to start happening..."

In other words, things are more like they are now than they've ever been before?

Posted by Dave D. 2004-08-19 6:47:41 PM|| 2004-08-19 6:47:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 Sistani & the Shiites

Cool name for a band...

Posted by Raj 2004-08-19 6:58:11 PM|| [http://angrycyclist.blogspot.com] 2004-08-19 6:58:11 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 I have been gone for a few days, but it seems to me that controlling the variables by and large determines the outcome. We need to control:

1. Food
2. Water
3. Ammo
4. Weapons
5. Other supplies
6. The Media
7. Comm with the outside world
8. Propaganda

1 and 2 and 5 we can largely control by cordoning off the shrine.

3 we can do the same. They probably have lots of ammo stored, but it is still a finite amount.

4. They have lots of weapons. They cannot get any more.

5. Kicking the media out was a step in the right direction (finally!)

7. Hopefully any phone lines are cut to the shrine. Cell phones can be neutralized by cutting off the repeaters. Sat phones can be jammed or compromised.

8. Propaganda can be Allawis if he wants. Tater has been cut off from his audience, as long as the Iraqi government puts its foot down on this issue. Tater needs to have the rug pulled on his forum.

Since the variables can now be controlled, the heat can now be cranked up on these thirsty chaps and the siege can be done in earnest. It will take time but the Tater issue can now be concluded, if Allawi has the will to do it and take the heat.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2004-08-19 7:43:45 PM|| 2004-08-19 7:43:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 More or less precisely Seafarious. On the money or thereabouts.

Posted by Shipman 2004-08-19 8:16:14 PM|| 2004-08-19 8:16:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 #15,16,& 21. Now we know who has been writing over Col. Flagg's signature.

Posted by GK 2004-08-19 8:54:13 PM|| 2004-08-19 8:54:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 I sure would like to have some very large (30m square) solar mirrors right about now, that I could focus in on the front doors of the Shrine. Aim two outside focus mirrors toward a central focus, crank up the heat to about 3500 degrees, and let the sun do the work for me... Listen to the sizzle as long pig bacon fries. Most Americans are too soft-hearted to fight a really NASTY war. With people like al Sadr, the nastier we fight the better. Let them know that no matter how nasty they think they are, we can be ten times worse, and still not use "banned" weapons - just a little ingenuity.

Posted by Old Patriot 2004-08-19 10:08:00 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2004-08-19 10:08:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#24 Interesting that Sistani's still in London... = Green light to Allawi. Bring it to a conclusion already.

Posted by lex 2004-08-20 12:13:45 AM|| 2004-08-20 12:13:45 AM|| Front Page Top

#25 Will a daisy cutter hurt the mosque? Could it be dropped with one of the new GPS guided parachutes to make sure that it eliminates the graveyard infestation. I wonder how many Mahdi would be enthusiastic about death by simultaneous immolation and asphyxiation.

Posted by Super Hose 2004-08-20 12:55:23 AM|| 2004-08-20 12:55:23 AM|| Front Page Top

#26 Daisy cutters were designed to clear helicopter landing zones in the jungle. The daisies in question were the trees in the area where a landing was planned. If entire trees can be cut down by a daisy cutter, I don't think you need to strain hard to figure out what might happen to an old mosque.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2004-08-20 1:10:22 AM|| [http://www.polipundit.com] 2004-08-20 1:10:22 AM|| Front Page Top

07:21 Shipman
02:31 FlameBait93268
02:17 Kentucky Beef
01:10 Zhang Fei
01:10 Phil Fraering
00:57 Super Hose
00:55 Super Hose
00:47 Old Patriot
00:47 Super Hose
00:42 spiffo
00:39 Super Hose
00:35 Lucky
00:31 Lucky
00:13 lex
00:07 Anonymous6124
00:03 Lucky
00:01 Alaska Paul
23:59 Zenster
23:57 Chris W.
23:56 Chris W.
23:33 True German Ally
23:30 tu3031
23:28 Zenster
23:24 tu3031