Muqtada al-Sadr threatens militia violence in Iraq

Muqtada al-Sadr threatens militia violence in Iraq

 

An anti-American Shiite cleric has threatened to reactivate his feared militia if American soldiers remain in Iraq beyond this year.

'What if the U.S. forces and others stay in our beloved lands?' Muqtada al-Sadr issued in a statement read out in Baghdad's Mawal Square Saturday, eight years to the day since U.S. troops helped oust Saddam Hussein.

'Will you be silent? Will you overlook this?'

'No, no America. No, no America,' the tens of thousands of protesters shouted in reply.

Protest: Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, seen in the poster, burn US flags during a rally in Baghdad today which marks the eighth anniversary of the fall of the Iraqi capital to American troops

The cleric, currently in Iran studying religion had told followers only in January to embrace a peaceful position. 

Now it seems he’s changed his tune, threatening to quickly train newly armed followers and bring his feared Mahdi Army militia out of retirement.

'We will have to adopt (this) approach if they will not leave our country,' he said.

The Mahdi Army terrorized Baghdad, Basra and other Iraqi cities a few years ago in the height of Iraq’s violence, killing Sunnis in what almost became a full-blown civil war. 

'What if the U.S. forces and others stay in our beloved lands? Will you be silent? Will you overlook this?' 'No, no America. No, no America,' the crowd chanted in reply.

 

Tens of thousands protest: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Obama administration is willing and increasingly likely to stay beyond the 2011 deadline.

Under a Washington and Baghdad security agreement U.S. troops would leave by the end of the year.

However, many Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers want U.S. troops to remain, fearing the country is still too unstable.

In Iraq this week U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Obama administration is willing and increasingly likely to extend that deadline.

Demonstrator Haidar Nuaman, 25, said many Iraqis won't stand for a continued U.S. military presence in Iraq.

'It seems that the government does not know what to do. Muqtada's is an important voice to stand against any intention by the government to extend the presence of forces,' he said.