Sadr group threatens to quit Iraq govt if PM meets Bush

[bigtree]

11.24.2006, 05:32 AM

BAGHDAD (AFX) - The political group of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened to pull out of Iraq's national unity government if Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki goes through with a scheduled meeting with US President George W. Bush in Jordan next week.

'We will withdraw from the government and parliament if the prime minister meets Bush in Jordan,' a statement from the group said, adding that it would also withdraw if the security situation did not improve.

Bush and Maliki are due in Jordan on November 29 for talks on the situation in Iraq.


http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/feeds/afx/2006/11/24/afx3201360.html


http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree

[jannyk]

1. Doesn't go on to explain

whether it's the meeting they object to, or because it is not in Iraq.
Go on, force the cowardly little fucker to go to Iraq. If he wants to discuss the Iraq situation he should do it with all sides not just the Shi'ia.

[bigtree]

2. I heard a report today which claimed Sadr was losing influence within his group

for his support of Maliki. This looks like he's drawing a line.

[Kagemusha]

3. Good point. Because if he doesn't draw a line, after yesterday,

he's going to find his entire militia slipping through his fingers as he tries to stop them. Or at least, be seen as trying to stop them with something a little better than complete ineffectiveness. Granted, one always has to be alert for the "wink, wink" effect but, threatening THIS, pullout from the government, this is not child's play. This is deadly serious business. If the Sadr faction pulls out, Maliki will a) have a hard time governing in parliament, b) will be totally reliant on the Badr Corps militia for non-police related, non-army related security. Keep in mind that the Army has so many Sunnis in it at US insistence that there's a possible spy in practically every unit so, the government can't trust them much.

It would also serve to put a huge bull's eye on Sadr's head but, since any such move would be mutually assured destruction, Maliki will of course be trying to head off any such dramatic step. What I really hate seeing is how many people think Sadr is Iran's minion in Iraq when Badr is far more closely associated with it...

[Eugene]

4. They left out the part where Sadrists called Bush a criminal.

CNN uses the words "the criminal Bush" in their translation of the Sadr
block statement.

From Reuters...

"We asked Maliki to cancel his planned meeting with Bush
because there is no reason to meet with the criminal who
is behind terrorism in Iraq," Faleh Hasan Shanshal, a
senior official in Sadr's movement, told Reuters.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL439390.htm

We've reached the tipping point. If Maliki defies Sadr, his government falls.
If he defies the U.S., he risks being replaced (not necessarily by peaceful means).

What a mess!

Edited to add CNN info.