I'm tired of the AmeriKan media slander, folks.
"Sadr’s return to Iraq marks key transition; Movement now important part of goverment" by Anthony Shadid and John Leland, New York Times / January 6, 2011
BAGHDAD — Moqtada al-Sadr, the populist cleric who emerged as the United States’ most enduring foe in Iraq, returned yesterday after more than three years of voluntary exile in Iran in a homecoming that embodied his movement that is now more powerful than at any time since the United States invaded in 2003....
Another invasion and occupation "success."
Simply by setting foot in Iraq, Sadr complicated the nation’s Byzantine politics.
No, he complicated U.S. control over such.
He is the rare Iraqi figure who can compete in stature with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the dealings between Maliki, the arch politician, and Sadr, the rabble-rousing cleric, may prove a compelling political drama in the year ahead. Sadr’s return certainly adds another challenge for the United States, given its fear of his movement’s influence and his steadfast opposition to US policies.
Hey, that is IRAQI DEMOCRACY and we JUST HAVE TO ACCEPT IT, right?
Symbolically, at least, his arrival serves as a resonant climax to the resurgence of a movement whose demise has been forecast as often as rain in Iraq’s winter.
Claiming the legacy of Sadr’s revered father, Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, who was assassinated in 1999, the group forged a martial culture and become one of the most implacable enemies of the occupation, fighting the US military twice in 2004.
Well, you can see where this is going and where the agenda-pushing media stands on Sadr.
Four years later, the movement was at a nadir: With Sadr in exile and his militias blamed for some of the war’s worst sectarian carnage, the Iraqi military, with decisive US help, vanquished the group in Baghdad and Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city. The divided movement itself seemed a spent force.
I love the NYT distorted revision of history. They act as if we have no memory.
What I recall was that the AmeriKan media announced the operation as a big test of the Iraqi security forces, and when the operation bogged down the coverage went away. Then Iran was called in to broker a peace deal that stopped the fighting.
But hey, what's one more obfuscation and lie from the NYT? I expect that from them.
Oh, about that sectarianism:
Memory Hole: The Dream Vacation
Memory Hole: Sistani's Reach
Memory Hole: The Uniters of Islam
Occupation Iraq: Sectarian Saviors
The Real Muqtada al-Sadr
Are we CLEAR, readers?
But in local elections in 2009, it made impressive gains, foreshadowing the remarkable discipline it showed in national elections last year. The 40 seats it won, second only to Maliki’s bloc among the Shi’ite majority, brought it to the center of Iraqi politics and, to its supporters at least, marked the group’s transition from a militia force to a mainstream political group.
Sadr’s surprise decision in August to throw his support to Maliki, his longtime antagonist, for a second term as prime minister effectively decided the election in Maliki’s favor....
Related: Occupation Iraq: Sadr Crowns Maliki King
If he stays in Iraq, his impact on politics, at least in the short term, may be more symbolic than real.
I'm tired of both politics and symbolism -- as well as my propaganda paper.
The movement has performed well in his absence, with its delegates impressing even the movement’s critics with their skills in the negotiations that led to the formation of the government last month....
At the very least, Sadr becomes one of the few national leaders with the grass-roots support to compete with Maliki, whom Sadr’s supporters had derided recently as an heir to Saddam Hussein and a US lackey.
See:
Occupation Iraqi: Meet the New Boss
Occupation Iraq: Maliki Drains the Marshes
Occupation Iraq: Hiring Hussein's Henchmen
Occupation Iraq: Resurrecting Saddam Hussein
Sadr’s support for the prime minister came with a high price: Hundreds of his followers were released from prison, and the movement was given leadership of a province, positions in the security forces, and control of some ministries.
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Related:
"Ending impasse, Iraq OK’s national government; Maliki backed for 2d term as prime minister" by Liz Sly and Aaron Davis, Washington Post / December 22, 2010
BAGHDAD — Reconciliation was the watchword as all the leading figures who have dominated Iraqi politics since the fall of Saddam Hussein gathered in the chamber, embracing, shaking hands, and congratulating one another.
Ayad Allawi, the secular leader whose mostly Sunni Iraqiya bloc narrowly beat Maliki in elections in March and who had long insisted that he should be named prime minister, pledged cooperation with the new government and called for a new era of “real reconciliation.’’
The spirit has taken hold among the formerly feuding political elite....
Related: Fears grow in Iraq that Allawi will be excluded
US role in Iraq tied to building of government
Maliki presents Cabinet nominees, but key ally balks
The faction headed by the anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was given eight relatively junior ministries, including housing, tourism, and labor....
That doesn't jibe with what the NYT reported!
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Nor does this:
"Exile in Iran over, Sadr asks followers to display restraint" by Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press / January 7, 2011
NAJAF, Iraq — Hundreds of raucous supporters celebrated the return of firebrand Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday after his emergence from four years of exile in Iran, drawing a plea from him to show more discipline and restraint.
The populist whose militiamen once battled American and Iraqi forces left Iraq in 2007. Then, he was seen as a powerful but unpredictable leader of a street-fighting organization. Upon his return Wednesday, he was a legitimate political figure heading an organized movement that is a key partner in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s new government.
The first public statement from him since his return, issued by his office yesterday, seemed designed to reinforce that image.
“I have seen only love and loyalty from you and this is exactly what you have seen from me, but the lack of discipline displayed by some of you, while I was performing my religious rituals and public matters, has bothered and harmed me. I demand you to exercise discipline,’’ he said.
He was referring to the rapturous reception by hundreds of followers a day earlier, while he visited a holy shrine. Crowds chanted, “Moqtada is our only leader.’’ Officials from his office said the cleric felt other politicians might view those cries as provocative.
Sadr made no public appearances. According to his office in Najaf, Sadr will give a speech tomorrow although there was no information on where the speech would be delivered.
Translation: he would like to avoid assassination.
A swarm of Sadr’s bodyguards — dressed in black clothes and flak jackets and armed with automatic rifles — deployed around his house in the al-Hanana neighborhood in central Najaf where followers were waiting to meet him....
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Related: Iraq Wants U.S. Out
Never saw a word of it in the Globe.
