On Mar 29, 10:37 am, Jeffrey Turner <jtur...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Stevie Nichts wrote:
> > On Mar 26, 10:41=EF=BF=BDpm, Jeffrey Turner <jtur...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote=
:
>
> >>The surge started working when Muqtada al Sadr declared a ceasefire.
> >>Now that it looks like that ceasefire is crumbling, I suspect the
surge
> >>will go with it. =EF=BF=BD
>
> > It is quite plausible, as per this CNN re****t, that Sadr is not still
> > calling the shots, but has been reduced to a figurehead:
>
> > ---
>
>http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/27/basra.analysis/?iref=3Dmp..=
..
>
> > "Al-Sadr is involved in a very complicated relation****p with the
> > Iranians," said CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware. "The
> > Iranians do provide funding and sup****t for his militia, yet at
> > the same time they're trying to rein him in and get him to adopt a
> > certain political agenda, which from time to time he resists."
>
> That doesn't sound like a figurehead. Sadr has always been an Iraqi
> nationalist. That doesn't make for a good Iranian puppet.
Not only that, Prime Minister Maliki is a leader of the Badr Brigade
- a creation of Iran during the 80's with much stronger ties to Iran
than the Mehdi army.
>
> > Iran has weakened al-Sadr by encouraging dissension within his
> > Mehdi Army and backing hardliners -- known as the Special Groups
> > -- who break away and keep up the fight against the U.S.
> > occupation, Ware said.
>
> This may be true. It doesn't seem to help the surge, and it doesn't
> say how many - what percent - of Sadr's followers have splintered.
> And Sadr, not Iran, still controls the bulk of the Mehdi Army.
actually the biggest split in the Mehdi army has happened BECAUSE of
Sadr's cease fire. A lot of his followers never sup****ted it.
> > Note that Sadr has not been heard from; nor has he
> > declared an end to the cease-fire.
>
> He hasn't been heard from? You're not listening.
He's listening, but only to right-wing sources.
That's why usenet Republicans can be so consistently wrong and still
maintain that they are correct.
> He hasn't ended the
> cease-fire yet, but that could easily change if al Maliki keeps pressing
> the issue.
That isn't the only problem with the cease fire. The Sunni Awakening
groups are growing restless too.
They only stopped shooting at us because we put them on our payroll.
But the ****ite Iraqi government doesn't want to pay them anymore, or
employ them.
The only question is when they start shooting at us again?
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