Al-Sadr Considers Restarting Full-Scale Fight Against US-Led Forces
How bad is this?
HP-Muqtada al-Sadr is considering setting aside his political ambitions and restarting a full-scale fight against U.S.-led forces _ a worrisome shift that may reflect Iranian influence on the young cleric and could open the way for a shadow state protected by his powerful Mahdi Army.
A possible breakaway path _ described to The Associated Press by Shiite lawmakers and politicians _ would represent the ultimate backlash to the Iraqi government’s pressure on al-Sadr to renounce and disband his Shiite militia.
By snubbing the give-and-take of politics, al-Sadr would have a freer hand to carve out a kind of parallel state with its own militia and social services along the lines of Hezbollah in Lebanon, a Shiite group founded with Iran’s help in the 1980s.
Look, somebody just needs to sit al Sadr down and explain that the goal of the liberation was not to create a free and indepenedent Iraq.
He just believes the Bush administration press releases.
Why doesn’t Sadr get it?
He could have a McDonalds AND a Kentucky Fried Chicken on every corner in Sadr City!
Where’s the downside?