al-Sadr Offers A Deal

In what appears to be a tiny hopeful sign, the following story is being reported on Yahoo News, this Sunday morning:

Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on his followers on Sunday to stop battling government forces after a week of fighting in southern Iraq and Baghdad threatened to spiral out of control.

A crackdown on Shi'ite militants in the southern oil port of Basra has sparked an explosion of violence that risked undoing the past year's improvements in Iraq's security.

"Because of the religious responsibility, and to stop Iraqi blood being shed ... we call for an end to armed appearances in Basra and all other provinces," Sadr said in a statement given to journalists by his aides in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf.

"Anyone carrying a weapon and targeting government institutions will not be one of us."

U.S. forces have been drawn deeper into the fighting, which exposed a rift in Iraq's Shi'ite majority between parties in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government and Sadr's populist street movement. The government welcomed Sadr's statement but said it would press on with its offensive in Basra. "The operation in Basra will continue and will not stop until it achieves its goals. It is not targeting the Sadrists but criminals," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters.

Scores of people have been killed in clashes in southern Iraq and in Shi'ite neighborhoods of the capital, where an indefinite curfew is now in place to contain further violence. In his statement, Sadr also called for an end to "random arrests" of his followers and for them to benefit from an amnesty law passed by parliament in February aimed at freeing thousands of prisoners from Iraqi jails. Maliki, in Basra to oversee the six-day-old operation, has ordered Shi'ite fighters there to lay down their arms and has extended a 72-hour deadline until April 8 for them to turn over heavy and medium weapons in return for cash.

Sadr aide Hazem al-Araji said Mehdi Army fighters would not hand over guns: "The weapons of the resistance will not be delivered to the Iraqi government," he told journalists. Araji also said there had been an agreement with the government to stop "random arrests," an underlying grievance of Sadr's followers that has fuelled this week's violence. Sadr's followers have accused Maliki and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, his most powerful Shi'ite ally in government, of trying to crush them ahead of provincial elections due in October in which they are expected to make a strong showing.

Sadrists have complained that Iraqi and U.S. forces have exploited a truce called by the cleric last August to make indiscriminate arrests. The U.S. military says it only targets those who disobeyed Sadr's ceasefire order. A key test will be whether Sadr's unruly militia, which he has sought to reorganize in recent months to root out rogue elements, will obey his order to stand down.

Shortly after Sadr's statement, a salvo of rockets or mortars was fired at the Green Zone diplomatic and government compound in central Baghdad. The U.S. military has blamed rogue Mehdi Army militiamen for similar barrages in the past week. But in the southern city of Nassiriya a Reuters reporter said clashes with security forces had stopped and Mehdi Army fighters were seen withdrawing from the streets. This week's fighting has placed the United States in a dilemma. While it wants Iraqi forces to take the lead on security, the Basra operation endangered Sadr's truce, a key factor in the drop in violence in Iraq since last June.

The United States also risks being sucked into an intra- Shi'ite conflict at a time when it plans to pull out some 20,000 troops and decide soon on future troop levels. Democrats seeking to succeed President George W. Bush want speedier withdrawals. U.S. forces said they killed at least 14 fighters in two helicopter missile strikes in Baghdad early on Sunday. They also said special forces have been operating alongside Iraqi units in Basra, where air strikes killed 22 fighters on Saturday.

The government offensive has so far had little success reclaiming the streets of Basra. Shortly before Sadr's statement, Reuters Television pictures showed masked Mehdi Army fighters brandishing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers outside a state television transmission station after setting fire to Iraqi troop carriers.


Bush should be paying attention, as this is obviously the man with the power to make or break Iraq. Let's make a deal, and get the hell out of dodge!!