# Al Sadr



## pegasus (Jan 9, 2007)

I was reading blogs and stuff tonight and came across this:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6768704
"January 9, 2007 ·  The Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, is preparing for war in Sadr City, the vast Baghdad slum.

Announcements on Iraqi TV last night said that the cleric will force every man in Sadr City between 15 and 45 to join his militia.

Sadr supporters believe they will be targeted by U.S. and Iraqi government troops after President Bush unveils his new Iraq strategy Wednesday night. The Mahdi Army is rumored to be distributing grenades to every family in Sadr City, a district already brimming with weapons."


Earlier I found reports on Strategy Page: 

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/iraq/articles/20070103.aspx
"December 28, 2006: Without much fanfare, much less a press release, the government and Coalition troops have gone to war with Moqtada al Sadrs Mahhi Army militia. Leaders are being arrested or killed. The raids are being carried out with overwhelming speed and force, so that pro-Sadr gunmen have little chance to put up effective resistance. "


I heard from a friend who's son was in Sadr City in 2005 that Al Sadr was actually assisting the US at that time. He had sent out some order to the locals stating the US Military was off limits. The insurgents in Al Sadr in 2005 were other Muslim groups. 

If memory serves me, wasn't it Al Sadr that was part of the massacre in Fallujah in 2004? Weren't the Marines stopped at that time from eliminating him? I can't recall the political reason.  

I posted something elsewhere about Al Sadr meeting the other cleric. I have a bad feeling about all of this.


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## Marauder06 (Jan 9, 2007)

I think Faluja was mostly Sunnis, Sadr is a Shiite.  His AO was further east and south.


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## Boondocksaint375 (Jan 10, 2007)

Whatever happened to the Iraq Army goign and disarming all the militias last weekend


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## Chopstick (Jan 10, 2007)

Boondocksaint375 said:


> Whatever happened to the Iraq Army goign and disarming all the militias last weekend



They were too busy watching bootleg footage of Saddam and his cat.


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