Najaf protesters want Sadr out

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=3e344715a00e7cfa

Residents of Najaf, Iraq took to the streets Monday calling on radical cleric Moqtada Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia to leave the holy Shiite city.

Witnesses said protesters chanted anti-Sadr slogans screaming take you hands off the city, the people of Najaf do not want you.

The protest, the second of its kind in two days, coincided with a meeting in Najaf between Sadr and grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in addition to Najaf's governor Adnan al-Zarfi and Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Iran-backed Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI.

The recurring protests against the presence of the Mehdi Army constituted the biggest challenge to Sadr's claim to speak for a large portion of Iraq's majority Shiite community.

<snip>

[unionjack]

1. yeah....

......and they'd chant for a fuckin' Pizza Hut if Al Sistani told them to too.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. You make him sound like Rush Limbaugh.

:toast:

[Aidoneus]

5. actually Sistani came to his aid on a matter related to this

armed gangs of collaborators, calling themselves "Iraqi Army", had gathered near Sayyid Muqtada's Najaf office, but under Sayyid Sistani's pressure they split.

[xxqqqzme]

2. the only reason Sadr can make

the claim is because bremer shut down his 5th rate newspaper. The US gave this clown his creditials.

Moyers interviewed a journalist in Baghdad on Friday(....I can't remember his name - Robinson?, he is there w/ British press creditials and doesn't carry his US passport anywhere) who was telling Moyers just this...the people of Najaf are pissed cuz their city has been destroyed and they know the US ain't gonna fix anything.

He also said that outside of Baghdad, the US is losing control of more and more of the country.

He said US media continues to call the rebel fighters 'rag-tag' and harboring 'foreign infiltrators'. He said that is not the case. He was very impressed @ how disciplined and organized the resistance is. He made the point that they R fighting 4 their homes, cities and country, just as ANYone would.

It was an excellent interview, Very current and insightful.

[0007]

10. The journalist you are referring too, writes for solon.com

Robinson was his name. He was indeed very interesting and shed much light about Iraq that we don't get from the media here in the U.S.

[bahrbearian]

4. A picture from the protest.....

[0007]

11. These phoney fucking pigs!

[daleo]

6. No pictures and no estimate of the crowd

Nothing but a vague references to "witnesses". File this under "doubtful".

[Randy4Randi]

7. This is good news

We need the Iraqi people to start policing their own renegades and terrorists so we can get the hell out of there. We need to see more of this grassroots effort to eliminate the terrorists.

[Ohio rules]

8. Iraqi forces surround Sadr office in Najaf

NAJAF, Iraq - Iraqi security forces were surrounding the office of rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr in the holy Shiite city of Najaf Monday, one of Sadr’s top aides told AFP.
“The Iraqi national guard and police forces have encircled the office since this morning and are attempting to raid it,” Sheikh Ahmed Shaibani said.
He said Sadr officials had prevented Iraqi forces from entering the premises and are demanding an authorisation signed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani before they will allow the office to be searched.

Several demonstrations have been staged in recent days by Najaf residents demanding that Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia leave the holy city, blaming him for the destruction, which resulted from weeks of fighting with US troops around the Imam Ali shrine.

The Iraqi government has accused Sadr supporters of killing and torturing scores of people during the standoff.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayArticle.asp?col=§ion=focusoniraq&xfile=data/focusoniraq/2004/September/focusoniraq_September42.xml

They demand a search warrant issued by Sistani,not an Iraqi Judge ?
hmmmm.
the power struggle continues...
Sadrs army was supposed to leave Najaf in a peace agreement.

[Darranar]

9. Anyone have estimates for numbers? n/t

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. How much did our puppet government pay them to demonstrate?

[shadu]

13. plenty

money is no object!

[minkyboodle]

14. doubt that its necessary in this case

Najaf has never been Sadr's stronghold. I believe he is stronger in Sadr City (Bagdad), Nasiriyah and other southern cities. I'd imagine after all the damage done to the city residents of Najaf have lost what little welcome they may have had for Sadr. I'm pretty sure that Sadr has given up whatever designs he may have had for Najaf for at least the immediate future. Najaf is Sistani's city to the core, hell most of Iraq is Sistani's at this point.