Al-Sadr wounded in Najaf clashes

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/13/iraq.main/index.html
snip
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr suffered shrapnel wounds to his arm and chest during Friday fighting in Najaf, according to spokesman Sayed Hazim al-Arajy in Baghdad.

Insurgents loyal to al-Sadr have been battling U.S. and Iraqi forces in the Shia holy city for the past week.

Al-Sadr was treated at the Imam Ali Mosque and is expected to make a full recovery, al-Arajy said.

The mosque is a holy Shiite Muslim site. Thousands of al-Sadr loyalists are holed up there, Iraqi authorities say, and have been attacking their forces with mortars and laying land mines in the sacred compound.
/snip

[MikeG]

1. I'll bet they were self-inflicted. Ask John O'Neill.

[jukes]

2. obviously trying

for an escalation. if they destroy that shrine, we'll have every muslim in the world gunning for us.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

5. I shudder to think of it

:scared:

[Ripley]

3. I knew the Imam Ali Mosque was big...but wow!

Thousands of people are "holed up" in there? I fear for that building. I have no doubt a strike is being planned and they'll lie and say the "insurgents" fired mortars into the building.

I can't believe I heard the TV people say thousands of Shias were marching around the country. They actually showed footage this morning of the protestors and said it was 10,000 in one city!

[MaryH]

4. Yea, this has no good outcome

This is a lose, lose kind of deal.

[rustydog]

6. All Bush needs to completely fail in Iraq is for Sadr

to be elevated to patriot status with a: I regret that I have but one life to give for Iraq freedom"just before he dies, or I have yet begun to fight.

Jesus Christ, this entire Administration has learned nothing from elementary history!

[daleo]

19. More than just patriot status, he would be a martyr

He is a religious figure, after all, and this war has all kinds of religious components. Martyr packs an even more powerful emotional punch than patriot.

[rocktivity]

7. The only way they would know he was wounded is if he was captured

According to an aide, al-Sadr earlier suffered minor shrapnel wounds while in the Imam Ali Shrine compound.

The article doesn't say he's been captured! And whose side is the aide on?

:headbang:
rocknation

[Aidoneus]

10. Sayyid Hazim al-Araji speaks for Sadr(HA) on occasion,

and it is he that is apparently the source of the report of the injuries.

[rocktivity]

25. But why would an aide tell the enemy he was hurt?

And how is it that he can come and go as he pleases? Is he engaging in a little "disinformation" campaign of his own?

:headbang:
rockantion

[Aidoneus]

26. a) street cred

b) Najaf in particular has a maze of tunnels underground, that's how Shia resistance fighters evaded the Baathists for years.
c) undoubtedly, but I don't know if this is part of it.

[zanana]

8. I have a question, ChavezSpeakstheTruth...

Is the purple Rhino spanking an invisible person, or is he dancing? And why? Just curious. This kind of thing can bother me all day.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

9. Oh - thats just something we in the lounge have going to make fun of

somebody. Its only temporary!

[natrat]

11. get them commy bastards

oops wrong decade

[Plaid Adder]

12. See...this is why you shouldn't START wars like this.

Because right now, there's no good outcome. Either they win the battle by destroying the mosque, in which case there's a gifuckingnormous escalation, or they try to negotiate some kind of withdrawal, which Al-Sadr can claim as a victory because it's not a defeat.

Or, they kill Al-Sadr, in which case he becomes a martyr and one of his lieutenants takes his place and continues the fight with a newly energized force.

The day we started this war we were screwed. It's just a question of how long it's gonna take.

Sigh,

The Plaid Adder

[bemildred]

13. "Just a flesh wound Mam, you stay under cover

while I finish with these outlaws."

But seriously, whose movie is this anyway? All Muqtada needs now
is some angels coming down and informing everyone that he speaks
for the prophet. Wounded while comforting the troops and defending
the shrine.

[The Magistrate]

14. Indeed, Sir

A little blood is a great propaganda. Goebbels used to drape gory bandages on perfectly healthy S.A. men who stood about him as body-guards during his speeches in the last election campaigns of the weimar Republic....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

16. what other options does he have?

hmm?

[The Magistrate]

20. Hardly A Criticism, Sir

He is playing a decent hand ruthlessly and well. My feelings about the fellow himself are mixed, with a tendency towards disfavor. He is, at bottom, a reactionary obscurantist of the first water, and his rise to power will not move forward the cause of Liberty and progress for the people of Iraq. Fundamentalist obscurantism may be popular there in certain quarters, but they are hardly things any person of left or progressive views can in good conscience applaud and support. To the degree that his rise renders difficult, and even untenable, continued U.S. occupation of Iraq, it must still be considered, on balance, a desireable thing in the present moment, but not for one instant beyond that. In power, he will do things you would have to disapprove of strenuously, and one of the chief real arguments against the current administration's adventures here is precisely that this exercise was certain to bring to the fore precisely such personalities as Mr. al'Sadr.

It is also worth pointing out that his use of the Ali shrine as a military base is a clear violation of the laws of war: there is no ground whatever for arguing that it is not. It is certainly expedient, and perhaps even necessary to his hope of success, to do this, but law is created particularly to brake the argument of expediency and necessity; after all, it may well be expedient, and perhaps even necessary, for me to secure funds quickly some day by pointing a pistol at a bank teller, but however pressing those factors may be for me that day, they will not alter the criminality of the act. Nor does it matter that the people of Iraq, and the Moslem world, will be inclined to blame the U.S. for any harm come to the shrine, whether physical damage or its desecration by unbelieving intruders. Really, the blame will lie with both parties to the battle, and it will be necessary for people who wish to make political use of these events in this country to be crystal clear about that.

"The law in its majesty forbids rich and poor alike to beg in the street, to steal bread, and to sleep under bridges."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

22. I just wanted to get you talking - as usual you have a sober grasp on

this nuanced situation. You concisely point out the truths without being caught up in the passions of anti-US Occupation extremism. In short - you bring me back from the brink :)

[The Magistrate]

23. Always A Pleasure, Sir

"I'm going home now. Somebody bring me some frogs and some bourbon."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

24. evening!

I too enjoy Married with Children

-peace

[jmcgowanjm]

15. Inside the shrine, wounded return from bloody battle

This is the office of the Sadr movement, which now controls
the mosque - perhaps itself one of the goals behind the
uprising since the site brings in a vast annual income from
the millions of pilgrims who visit. Clerics from the other parties
in the Shia faith, including the Supreme Council for the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which ran the mosque until April,
have gone. Even yesterday's prayers were tailored to extol
Mr Sadr.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1282237,00.html

Friday is Islam's Prayer Day. And guess who Muslim's
are praying for.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1282237,00.html

[TheReligiousLeft]

17. Here are my thoughts on Al-Sadr.

I think he plans to get himself killed while praying at Ali's tomb. His last words will be "We must not allow infidels in this holy place."
Why do I think that? Because Ali was Martyred (he got his head split open while praying alone in the dark) while praying and his last words were something like don't fight on my grave. So I think that Al-Sadr, for the sake of a radicalized Islamic Iraq will allow himself to follow in Ali's footsteps. At least that is what I'd do if I was Al-Sadr.
<http://www.luthermatrix19.blogspot.com>

[DrWeird]

18. conflicting reports.

There's some stories quoting "Sadr's spokesman" saying Sadr was wounded.

Other stories quoting "Sadr's spokesmen" as saying Sadr wasn't wounded.

Frankly, I'm not going to believe anything the American media says until it's really, really confirmed.

Especially since they removed Al Jazeera.

[genius]

21. Good. If we killed him, they'd really go after the troops.

I'm glad he's going to be okay.