Why is this fool not a grease spot already? From CNN.com:
The militant Shiite Muslim cleric whom the U.S.-led coalition has vowed to capture or kill warned of suicide attacks Friday if American forces conduct military action in the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.
At a prayer service in Najaf, Muqtada al-Sadr said his followers would "shed blood to keep our holy city," according to Reuters.
The U.S. military has massed troops around Najaf, a south-central city controlled by al-Sadr's militia, the Mehdi Army. Al-Sadr is wanted by Iraqi authorities in connection with the killing of a rival cleric
"Lots of believers, men and women, came to me and asked permission to become martyrs and to execute martyrdom operations. I keep telling them to wait," Reuters quoted the cleric as saying.
"But if there was an assault on our cities or on our religious authorities we will be time bombs and will not stop before destroying enemy forces."
He's had his militia actively in combat shooting at US troops, and terrorizing the locals besides. Now he's threatening to turn loose the suicide bombers.
Al-Sadr is operating openly in Najaf. The picture there has him at a press conference, speaking to dozens of microphones. It's not like they don't know where he's at.
He's alive why? This guy, and any self-identified followers need to be taken out with extreme prejudice. If what al-Sadr's doing won't get you squished like a bug, then it's pretty much open season to screw with Americans at will.
Apparently, any idiot self-declared "cleric" can do pretty much any kind of evil, murdering crap, and we'll be too intimidated by the supposed threat of angering Muslims to deal with them properly. Hey, maybe the Muslims need to be a little more worried about not wanting to anger US.
Send in an Apache and take this murdering bastard and his followers OUT before they kill any more Americans.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jim Carruthers
Imagine what he says about you, Al.
So in other words, the way to deal with Ho Chi Ming is to carpet bomb everything into submission in order to save it.
Yep, I'm sure it'll work this time.
2 - Al Barger
I didn't call for "carpet bombing" anything. I'm talking about al-Sadr specifically, and his militia.
It doesn't matter what he says about US. We're right and he's wrong.
3 - Jim Carruthers
In case you're not aware, Sadr's father was murdered by Saddam, you remember him? So, why not put Saddam back in power, and you've solved your short term problem.
The US has created the same situation which existed in Lebanon. Create a power vacuum and people will fill it.
4 - Nick Jones
"Send in an Apache and take this murdering bastard and his followers OUT before they kill any more Americans."
And can we go after Sharon and Pinochet for the same crime next?
5 - Jim Carruthers
And by the way, Al, if you are going to bombast, at least blow up over the substance -- I said carpet bomb Ho Chi Ming, last I heard, he wasn't in Iraq. Oh, right, you're not allowed to talk about history in Vietnam, because, well, it is like the stain Scruffy left on the rug. And then cousin Earl came down with rabies. But we don't talk about that, more coffee?
6 - JR
It doesn't matter what he says about US. We're right and he's wrong.
Apparently, he's smart and we're dumb. When it comes to survival, that combination trumps morality. Just ask bin Laden.
7 - Nick Jones
"It doesn't matter what he says about US. We're right and he's wrong."
But we ALWAYS say that, whether we are actually right or not.
Hey, if I agree it's okay to wipe out al-Sadr, will you agree to wiping out Falwell, Robertson, Cal Thomas, and other Christian Reconstructionist types?
8 - RJ Elliott
Al, you should know by now that opposing a murderous, anti-American, Muslim fundamentalist thug will only bring you endless grief from the appeasement brigade.
Some on the Left viewed the slaughter, mutilation, and hanging of four US civilians in Fallujah as completely justified, because after all they were just "mercenaries."
I can't wait to hear their shrill whining when Bush is re-elected, and Iraq becomes more stable. ;-]
9 - Marc
RJ your exactly correct. Unfortunatly the Bush win will be close enough that the same tribe of [Dim]ocrats will scream "He stole the election."
10 - Nick Jones
"Hey, if I agree it's okay to wipe out al-Sadr, will you agree to wiping out Falwell, Robertson, Cal Thomas, and other Christian Reconstructionist types?"
Going to answer the question or not?
11 - Al Barger
Nick, to put it gently, I find it difficult to believe that you honestly don't see the difference between the murderer al-Sadr, and the upright perhaps stick in the mud Jerry Falwell. Last I heard, Cal Thomas was not sending out armed minion to kill people.
Hey, if I agree it's okay to wipe out al-Sadr, will you agree to wiping out Falwell, Robertson, Cal Thomas, and other Christian Reconstructionist types?
This is your best argument?
Carruthers, same thing for you. Sharon trying to pinpoint individual terrorists who are actively murdering his people is not even vaguely morally equivalent to al-Sadr sending his thugs out on unprovoked killing sprees.
Saddam killed his father. He should be kissing our asses for the good we've done his country. Instead, he's set on a dumb martyrdom mission.
Alright then, let's give him his goddam martyrdom and move on.
12 - Nick Jones
Al, you and RJ (among others) are always talking about taking out murderous theocratic terrorists before they act - I thought I'd, in the spirit of ecumenism, point out Christian prototerrorists who would strip us of our freedoms and execute unbelievers by the thousands given half the chance. I hear Cal Thomas was seen at a cafe with someone who might have been Eric Rudolph right before the Olympic bombing, and hasn't Rudolph been tied to the Army of God terrorist group? I mean, you DO believe in preemptive attack against our enemies, don't you?
RJ, the Sharon one was mine too, not Carruthers'. If you want to pinpoint an individual terrorist you do it with a sniper rifle, not a rocket launcher. A thug is a thug is a thug, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Tamil...
13 - sheri
Eric Rudolph will pay for his crimes based on his actions as an individual, not his thinking and religious affiliation. The American Justice system convicts a person on what they do, not what they think.
14 - Eric Olsen
Sheri, good point.
Nick, who is it the Christian fundamentalists you name want to kill?
As a parlor game, moral relativism can be interesting and even instructive as to similarities in how human's think and operate, but it is no way to live real life.
The problem right now with staining Sadr is a practical matter of unintended consequences and our military buds in Iraq are a little shellshocked and gunshy about now - they are afraid of alienating all the Shiites.
But I can't see him ending up anything other than a stain, but I'll leave the timing up to our people on the ground.
15 - JR
Pat Robertson obviously wants to kill everybody in Foggy Bottom, and he's apparently willing to tolerate quite a few civilian casualties throughout the rest of our nation's capital. So the question remains: Why hasn't that bitch been whacked yet?
16 - Nick Jones
"The American Justice system convicts a person on what they do, not what they think."
AHHHHHHHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAAAAAAA! No...please...stop...my ribs hurt -
C'mon, you don't even need to dig deeply into *mainstream* history books to see that America has punished its heretics as assiduously as any Inquisitor (unexpected and Spanish or not). I could provide a list of names, but I prefer you do your own homework.
17 - sheri
When a JURY OF PEERS is selected,
by both the Prosecution and the Defense thru the process of voir dire,
those jurors weigh the evidence presented to them
and make a decision whether the individual is guilty "beyond reasonable doubt",
of the ACTIONS he has been indicted for.
And it will apply to Eric Rudolph.
18 - sheri
that would be "he" or "she".
19 - Jim Carruthers
So, in other words, it is more important that the USA not be percieved as acting like a mafia, but that it actually behave like a mafia.
You've taken a look at how Russia has turned out over the last ten years, and thought "yep, I'm getting some that".
20 - sheri
And what's wrong with that? I LOVE the Sopranos.
21 - Jim Carruthers
uhm, sheri, _that's_ a teevee show. It's not real.
22 - Nick Jones
"When a JURY OF PEERS is selected, by both the Prosecution and the Defense thru the process of voir dire, those jurors weigh the evidence presented to them and make a decision whether the individual is guilty "beyond reasonable doubt", of the ACTIONS he has been indicted for."
Sounds familiar. Is this the opening narration of the "Law and Order" TV shows?
Ideally, that's how it's SUPPOSED to work; I find your faith in the system quite touching. And I really wish I could agree with you - but I'd have to forget everything I've learned about police and prosecutorial misconduct; botched evidence lab testing; perjury on the stand by police officers and paid informants; innocent people gunned down in their own homes because some lowlife pulled their name out of a hat to save his own ass; judges straitjacketing juries with instructions that may be neither true nor legal. Justice is an iffy proposition, at best.
And I've gotten away from the point I wanted to make, that we've got our own homegrown religious terrorists that we need to keep an eye on. Osama bin Laden is Cal Thomas with an army.
23 - sheri
Nick. Nick. Nick. I am not arguing the history of abuses in the system. What I am saying is, there is an action that has taken place in order to be convicted, whether it is manufactured, or what.
In other words....If you were to form "The Nick Satan and Al Sadr Brotherhood To Overthrow America of the United States Of America" church, ya'll could meet once a week, drink goat blood, have weird sex, whatever it is ya'll do. But there ain't a thing anyone can do about it, except protest or move, until you DO something that breaks the law, threatens national security, whatever.
That's all I was saying, and I was applying it specificaly to Eric Rudolph.
24 - Jim Carruthers
So in other words, sheri, you're in favour of the USA acting as a mafia, and abetting and supporting mafias, as long as they aren't in your neighbourhood.
So you can just feel smug in the convenience of hypocrisy. Wrapped in the warm blanket of other people's misery. Bathing in the fear and horror of terrorism carried out by your state elsewhere.
Making tea with the energy of the unwanted underclass.
25 - sheri
Now what a fine thing for you to say, sitting up there in Canada.