Sadr's Statement: Honeymoon Over?
How Much Longer Will Muqtada's Loyalists Lie Low?
Muqtada al-Sadr issued a statement to his followers in Sadr City Friday, urging them not to cooperate with the US occupation of the area. The statement was followed by a large demonstration against the US presence. After a period of relative calm and cooperation between the US and followers of the Sadrist current, the honeymoon may be over.
The statement, read by a loyal cleric at Friday prayers exhorted his followers not to cooperate with the US occupation in Sadr City,
Full text of the statement in Arabic is available on the Internet. Below are key excerpts, in translation:
The occupiers want to do harm to this beloved (Sadr City) and want to distort its reputation now by spreading false rumors and allegations of negotiations and cooperation between you and them, but I trust that you have taken them as your enemies, for the enemies of God are your enemies, inevitably. And your voice always chants: This humiliation is not acceptable to us! I am convinced that God and his prophet refuse this to you, and you will not lower yourselves for them. Raise your voices in love and brotherhood and unity against your enemy and shout "No, No, America! No, No Israel!, No, No Satan!"The statement also reads:
I hope in God that your city will be the defender of Islam, and of the (Shi'a) tradition, and of Iraq and its unity and sovereignty and independence, and to reject all division and factionalism, sectarian and civil war, and to treat your brother Iraqis as brothers. Do not discriminate between Sunni and Shi'a at all, and nor against others, so that you be the highest example of all this.The AP reports that the authenticity of the statement was confirmed with Sadr offices in Najaf.
After the statement was delivered in Friday prayers, thousands of Iraqis poured into the streets immediately following the prayers. Photos of the large crowds show Iraqis still carrying prayer carpets after the service.
In what appeares to be a separate event, Rahim al-Daraji, the mayor of Sadr City who had faciliated the entry of the Americans was also attacked by gunmen and is seriously injured. It is not known if this attack was the work of individuals inside the Sadr organization, or by those who had broken with the policies of the current. Initial reports suggest the latter, but the message is clear, regardless of the sender: serious costs will be imposed on those who cooperate with the Americans.
The statement, demonstrations, and assassination attempt come after a period of relative calm between the Sadrist organization and the US, even as the US and Iraqi forces conducted mass arrests against alleged Mahdi Army militamen.
In fact, a front page story in the Washington Post this morning discusses "wary cooperation" between the US and the Sadrists.
It's too early to tell what the political fallout of today's events will be, but one thing is certain: The Americans and the Iraqi government can no longer take the quiesence of the Sadrist movement for granted.
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Sadar needs to be shut up one way to shut him up would be to give him some of his own medicine and cut his head off !!!! 
Originally Posted by niss0001
