Comments on: Peace breaks out. War surrenders!

Peace breaks out. War surrenders!

insomnia_lj — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 07:13:50 -0800

Peace breaks out. War surrenders! Grand Ayatollah Sistani has returned to Iraq, and is leading a nationwide march to the holy city of Najaf to peacefully resolve the conflict. Moqtada al-Sadr's people have called upon their supporters to join the march too. Will Sadr and his Mahdi Army walk away free men? Double secret probation, maybe?!

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 07:42:25 -0800

I'd love it if it were true, but al-Sadr's had more lines drawn for him than a book of Hirshfeld cartoons. And for some reason when I think of easing tension with a radical religious leader, bringing in a SECOND one won't really solve things.

By: quarsan

quarsan — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 08:03:40 -0800

sadr has played a reasonably smart game. it's the old khomeni tactic: never compromise. by the time all the others have become 'tainted' by involvement with the puppet goverment, only he will stand apart. sistani has kept his head down and mouth shut. finally, after much urging, he issues a statement. it's a good idea, on his part as it takes the issue out of the hands of the iraq government and the US.

By: nofundy

nofundy — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 09:05:01 -0800

Does this mean Sadr can open his newspaper back up? And if so, can he freely make comments that are perhaps not in total accord with the directives of Paul Bremer? Geez, the things Bremer wanted to kill people for in Iraq! Good thing we have a former CIA operative running the puppet "government" now, huh? Especially since he once specialized in car bombing the enemies of the CIA! Sistani will prevail and the neocon wet dream land is gone. Let's let him bring some peace and stability to the country and get our troops the hell out of there. Even if PP doesn't like it.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 09:11:26 -0800

it's getting more complicated ... and sistani may be ready to play his hand, whatever that may be ... meanwhile, i'm wondering something ... the us says that only iraqi troops would attempt to capture the mosque ... but are 500, as the article says, really enough? ... perhaps with the 2,000 marines participating tactically, it's a won situation ... stategically, i think it's extremely tricky ... and with thousands of pilgrims coming, it's going to be less controllable