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As-Sadr, Back Again
Updates from Raed Jarrar's blog
Five supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr were wounded Friday in a demonstration following the reading of a fiery sermon written by their leader, hospital sources said.
"If you leave us in peace, we will leave you in peace. You should be aware of the fact that the Mehdi Army is still alive and has its finger on the trigger," Sheikh Aws al-Khafaji said, reading a sermon by Sadr in the Kufa mosque in central Iraq.
"The government we have been expecting for so long should take concrete action in favour of the prisoners from the Mehdi Army and the followers of the Sadr movement. If you don't free our prisoners, I am ready to die as a martyr," he added
As-Sadr has millions of supporters in Baghdad and the south of Iraq. Last year I estimated that there are around five million of them. As-Sadr and his supporters took and are still taking a very strong anti-occupation stand.
When the occupation forces freaked out last year and had a deal with As-Sadr, it was after they discovered how strong he is. That deal was, as usual, a mere postponement of a big problem.
Yet, it seems that As-Sadr and his army didn't wait long before starting clashes with the weak Iraqi government.
I wonder whether these events will stay small, or if they will set off major clashes between Al-Mahdi Army on the one hand and the Iraqi government and occupation forces on the on the other hand.
For more information:
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/
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Sadr Supporters clash with police in demonstration Kufi following their leader’s fiery sermon.
KUFA, Iraq - Five supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr were wounded Friday in a demonstration following the reading of a fiery sermon written by their leader, hospital sources said.
"If you leave us in peace, we will leave you in peace. You should be aware of the fact that the Mehdi Army is still alive and has its finger on the trigger," Sheikh Aws al-Khafaji said, reading a sermon by Sadr in the Kufa mosque in central Iraq.
He was referrring to the Sadr movement's militia, which pledged to give up its armed rebellion following a deadly standoff with US troops in the shrine city of Najaf last summer.
"The government we have been expecting for so long should take concrete action in favour of the prisoners from the Mehdi Army and the followers of the Sadr movement. If you don't free our prisoners, I am ready to die as a martyr," he added.
Stirred up by the young cleric's virulent sermon, hundreds of worshippers gathered after prayers and demonstrated to demand the release of the prisoners.
Clashes broke out with the police, who opened fire, an AFP correspondent reported.
"The protest was not authorised. The policemen first fired shots in the air, then there was an incident in which two people were injured," the province's deputy governor Hassan Attam told AFP.
Doctor Samir al-Zabhawi, from Kufa hospital, said he had received a total of five wounded.
Hundreds of Sadr fighters and supporters were detained by Iraqi and US forces during the protracted fighting in Najaf last summer.
Scores of others were also nabbed last year during fighting in the cleric's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City, a two-million-strong slum named after his revered father.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=13436
KUFA, Iraq - Five supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr were wounded Friday in a demonstration following the reading of a fiery sermon written by their leader, hospital sources said.
"If you leave us in peace, we will leave you in peace. You should be aware of the fact that the Mehdi Army is still alive and has its finger on the trigger," Sheikh Aws al-Khafaji said, reading a sermon by Sadr in the Kufa mosque in central Iraq.
He was referrring to the Sadr movement's militia, which pledged to give up its armed rebellion following a deadly standoff with US troops in the shrine city of Najaf last summer.
"The government we have been expecting for so long should take concrete action in favour of the prisoners from the Mehdi Army and the followers of the Sadr movement. If you don't free our prisoners, I am ready to die as a martyr," he added.
Stirred up by the young cleric's virulent sermon, hundreds of worshippers gathered after prayers and demonstrated to demand the release of the prisoners.
Clashes broke out with the police, who opened fire, an AFP correspondent reported.
"The protest was not authorised. The policemen first fired shots in the air, then there was an incident in which two people were injured," the province's deputy governor Hassan Attam told AFP.
Doctor Samir al-Zabhawi, from Kufa hospital, said he had received a total of five wounded.
Hundreds of Sadr fighters and supporters were detained by Iraqi and US forces during the protracted fighting in Najaf last summer.
Scores of others were also nabbed last year during fighting in the cleric's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City, a two-million-strong slum named after his revered father.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=13436
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the militant Shiite Muslim cleric responsible for two uprisings against the United States last year, clashed with Iraqi security forces in the southern city of Kufa on Friday, on a day of widespread violence in Iraq.
A mass grave was found at a dump near the Shiite slum that is al-Sadr's stronghold in the capital, and two suicide car bombs struck a market and a police checkpoint, killing at least 25.
Friday's violence underscored the weakness of the new Iraqi government in the face of widespread challenges to its authority.
The clash in Kufa came after a defiant speech by al-Sadr that was read at Friday prayers, and it brought reminders of the chaos al-Sadr's supporters caused last year when they revolted against U.S. troops in Najaf and elsewhere. The sermon said the Iraqi government had done nothing to win the release of al-Sadr's followers in U.S. facilities or to stop raids on his offices and warned that he might mobilize his Mahdi Army militia.
"We dropped our weapons, but our hands are still on the trigger," al-Sadr said.
Accounts of what caused the clash in Kufa varied, but there was agreement that Iraqi police or army officials shot and wounded some worshippers emerging from prayers.
"After the prayers, the worshippers left the mosque, and they started to chant," said Sabah Shubar, 41, a car mechanic who was hit in the leg by three bullets. "We were surprised by the army opening fire."
A spokesman for the Defense Ministry said guards for Aws al-Khafaji, the imam who delivered al-Sadr's speech, were armed. Police questioned them, which led to a dispute that ended with an exchange of gunfire, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, a mass grave was discovered northeast of Baghdad, near Sadr City.
Police said early Friday they had recovered the bodies of 14 men who were buried in a garbage dump. Each victim had been blindfolded, handcuffed and shot once in the head.
The Muslim Scholars Association, a Sunni clerical group with ties to the insurgency, claimed the victims were all farmers, members of the prominent Dulaimi clan, who had been abducted from a grocer's market the day before by Iraqi army and police officers.
The association issued a statement naming all the victims. The men, brothers and cousins, all between the ages of 25 and 40, had traveled to the Baghdad market to sell their goods, said Abdul Salaam al-Qubaisi, a spokesman for the association. They came from Madain, a town south of Baghdad that last month was the focus of reputed kidnappings that pitted Sunnis against Shiites.
The discovery of the mass grave raised further fears that bloody ethnic clashes are escalating.
On a bridge in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, a car bomb killed at least eight policemen near a police checkpoint at 8:10 a.m., the Iraqi Interior Ministry said.
In Suwayrah, about 25 miles south of Baghdad in an area known as "The Triangle of Death," a car bomb exploded in a market, killing 17 and wounding 36, according to the ministry.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/11585752.htm
A mass grave was found at a dump near the Shiite slum that is al-Sadr's stronghold in the capital, and two suicide car bombs struck a market and a police checkpoint, killing at least 25.
Friday's violence underscored the weakness of the new Iraqi government in the face of widespread challenges to its authority.
The clash in Kufa came after a defiant speech by al-Sadr that was read at Friday prayers, and it brought reminders of the chaos al-Sadr's supporters caused last year when they revolted against U.S. troops in Najaf and elsewhere. The sermon said the Iraqi government had done nothing to win the release of al-Sadr's followers in U.S. facilities or to stop raids on his offices and warned that he might mobilize his Mahdi Army militia.
"We dropped our weapons, but our hands are still on the trigger," al-Sadr said.
Accounts of what caused the clash in Kufa varied, but there was agreement that Iraqi police or army officials shot and wounded some worshippers emerging from prayers.
"After the prayers, the worshippers left the mosque, and they started to chant," said Sabah Shubar, 41, a car mechanic who was hit in the leg by three bullets. "We were surprised by the army opening fire."
A spokesman for the Defense Ministry said guards for Aws al-Khafaji, the imam who delivered al-Sadr's speech, were armed. Police questioned them, which led to a dispute that ended with an exchange of gunfire, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, a mass grave was discovered northeast of Baghdad, near Sadr City.
Police said early Friday they had recovered the bodies of 14 men who were buried in a garbage dump. Each victim had been blindfolded, handcuffed and shot once in the head.
The Muslim Scholars Association, a Sunni clerical group with ties to the insurgency, claimed the victims were all farmers, members of the prominent Dulaimi clan, who had been abducted from a grocer's market the day before by Iraqi army and police officers.
The association issued a statement naming all the victims. The men, brothers and cousins, all between the ages of 25 and 40, had traveled to the Baghdad market to sell their goods, said Abdul Salaam al-Qubaisi, a spokesman for the association. They came from Madain, a town south of Baghdad that last month was the focus of reputed kidnappings that pitted Sunnis against Shiites.
The discovery of the mass grave raised further fears that bloody ethnic clashes are escalating.
On a bridge in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, a car bomb killed at least eight policemen near a police checkpoint at 8:10 a.m., the Iraqi Interior Ministry said.
In Suwayrah, about 25 miles south of Baghdad in an area known as "The Triangle of Death," a car bomb exploded in a market, killing 17 and wounding 36, according to the ministry.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/11585752.htm
It’s 8:30am 5/4 and I’m sitting in San Francisco International Airport, on the way to Phoenix, AZ. Something amazing just happened - troops returning (presumably from Iraq) arrived from one of the gates and received a near standing ovation with everyone clapping as they walked past the gate and down the hallway. I didn’t notice it at first as I was playing a game with my headphones on, but the trickle of applause started and slowly, everyone around me looked up and started to join in. Well, perhaps not everyone, but it was close enough and lasted until the final soldier walked past.
I never thought I’d see the day when Liberal San Francisco would welcome them home instead of spitting on them. But, to tell the truth, even if not everyone really supported them, it was good to see. Certainly it was a long way off from thirty years ago when troops returned to this city to be “greeted” by protesters.
My best to all the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here’s to you, and just to tell you that on my last day in this city, not everyone here hates you for being the heroes that you are. The troops were perhaps surprised, but I - after all this time living here - am probably the most surprised of them all.
I never thought I’d see the day when Liberal San Francisco would welcome them home instead of spitting on them. But, to tell the truth, even if not everyone really supported them, it was good to see. Certainly it was a long way off from thirty years ago when troops returned to this city to be “greeted” by protesters.
My best to all the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here’s to you, and just to tell you that on my last day in this city, not everyone here hates you for being the heroes that you are. The troops were perhaps surprised, but I - after all this time living here - am probably the most surprised of them all.
It's an urban legend:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0430-21.htm
(snip)
Far from spitting on veterans, the antiwar movement welcomed them into its ranks and thousands of veterans joined the opposition to the war.
(snip)
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0430-21.htm
(snip)
Far from spitting on veterans, the antiwar movement welcomed them into its ranks and thousands of veterans joined the opposition to the war.
(snip)
It's not an urban legend:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0340-21.htm
(sniff)
Far from welcoming veterans into their ranks, many among the antiwar movement spat on veterans and thousands of clueless veterans joined the opposition to the war.
(sniff)
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0340-21.htm
(sniff)
Far from welcoming veterans into their ranks, many among the antiwar movement spat on veterans and thousands of clueless veterans joined the opposition to the war.
(sniff)
What a pathetic response, predictibals, too. I almost feel sorry for this guy. How much trouble he must have dressing himself in the morning and tying his own shoes.
a man who has rode daddies martyred coat tails should not be trifled with such things. he should just go join his father with ala..
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