What’s the Matter with Sadr? [UPDATED]
Following are excerpts from an interview with Muqtada Al-Sadr, Leader of the Al-Mahdi Army in Iraq, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on March 29, 2008.
It is the duty of the Al-Sadr movement and the Iraqi people to strive to gradually liberate Iraq.
…
The Iraqi people still suffers as it did in the days of the Saddam – there are no services, there is a lack of security, and we still suffer from all the things we suffered from in the past. Therefore, this was occupation, not liberation. I call it occupation. I have said in recent years: Gone is the “little Satan,” and in came the “Great Satan.”
…
Interviewer: Do you support it? Do you support armed resistance against the forces you call “occupiers”?
Muqtada Al-Sadr: Against the occupiers – yes, but not against others.
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on followers to stop shooting and cooperate with Iraqi security forces Sunday, a move Iraq’s government praised as a step toward ending six days of fighting that has left hundreds dead.
“We announce our disavowal from anyone who carries weapons and targets government institutions, charities and political party offices,” al-Sadr said in a nine-point statement issued by his headquarters in Najaf.
Gee, other than getting his ass pounded, I wonder what changed? In one day? I note that the language still appears to retain the right to take up arms against the Great Satan himself (ourselves, rather), but given that Sadr himself is thought to be in darkest Iran, maybe he won’t be able to find the time.
UPDATE
WTF?
Feeling the heat of the recent offensive against his forces around Iraq, Moghtada Al Sadr, who has long been suspected of receiving support from the Iranian government, decided to publicly condemn the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
What is this guy, bipolar?