Iraqi government forces, with US and British support, have moved into the Mehdi Army stronghold in Basra and have surrounded its main bastion in Baghdad as the Shia militia's leader Muqtada al-Sadr threatened "open war". The Iraqi army, supported by US air strikes and British artillery, was able to advance into Basra against little resistance while there is still heavy fighting around Sadr City, a vast impoverished quarter of Baghdad in which some two million people are living."I'm giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government," said Mr Sadr. "Either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace ... or it will be [seen as] the same as the previous government [of Saddam Hussein]."The Sadrists see the attack on them as orchestrated by the Badr Organisation, the powerful Shia militia which is allied to the government and many of whose men have joined the Iraqi army and security services. "If they don't come to their senses and curb the infiltrated militias, we will declare an open war until liberation," Mr Sadr said.
Iraqi government forces, with US and British support, have moved into the Mehdi Army stronghold in Basra and have surrounded its main bastion in Baghdad as the Shia militia's leader Muqtada al-Sadr threatened "open war".
The Iraqi army, supported by US air strikes and British artillery, was able to advance into Basra against little resistance while there is still heavy fighting around Sadr City, a vast impoverished quarter of Baghdad in which some two million people are living.
"I'm giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government," said Mr Sadr. "Either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace ... or it will be [seen as] the same as the previous government [of Saddam Hussein]."
The Sadrists see the attack on them as orchestrated by the Badr Organisation, the powerful Shia militia which is allied to the government and many of whose men have joined the Iraqi army and security services. "If they don't come to their senses and curb the infiltrated militias, we will declare an open war until liberation," Mr Sadr said.
The torture lady is in Iraq to praise the "unity" behind Maliki's puppet government. That "unity" is, of course, not existent. On Sadr she commented: "It's been very difficult to get a read of what his motivations are and what his intentions are." Well, let me help you here. Sadr wants the attacks on his people to be stopped immediately. He wants a timetable for the occupiers to leave his country and he wants a united, independent Iraq. If he will not get these majority demands fullfilled through a fair political environment, he will ask the people to fight for it. That's it.
The torture lady is in Iraq to praise the "unity" behind Maliki's puppet government.
That "unity" is, of course, not existent.
On Sadr she commented: "It's been very difficult to get a read of what his motivations are and what his intentions are."
Well, let me help you here.
Sadr wants the attacks on his people to be stopped immediately. He wants a timetable for the occupiers to leave his country and he wants a united, independent Iraq. If he will not get these majority demands fullfilled through a fair political environment, he will ask the people to fight for it. That's it.
