Why do we hate them? It's not just killing civilians because we are killing civilians left and right and we are the good guys.
Now I can imagine going to war with Hussein and bin Laden for reasons besides my being born in the United States, but Al Sadr?
He is wanted for conspiracy for a murder of a rival. Officials in the US, Israel, Russia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, and a handful of South American and African countries have been found guilty of plotting to assasinate a rival, but sending the Marines down to root out George H. W. Bush doesn't seem warranted.
Now Al Sadr hates Americans and encourages to do the same. I don't think that's a hanging offense, either. He has holed himself up in a compound, unwilling to go to Iraqi jail.
quote: From cnn.com Speaking at a news conference Wednesday in Najaf, al-Sadr said he would dissolve the Mehdi militia when there is an elected government in Iraq.
For now, al-Sadr said, he would "continue to fight the American occupation" and saluted the militia members in Najaf and Karbala, urging them to stand together.
Al-Sadr also said that "if the Americans escalate the situation, I will also escalate it, and if the Americans calm things down, so will I."
It's hard not to be a little bit sympathetic, unless you want to paint all hostile Iraqis with the same brush. This kid isn't Mandela, and if we do enough research, I'm sure some of his militia members are up to no good, but as enemies go, is this one really so out of line?
This would be a time when we can show off not only our American military muscle, but we can fully-implement and deploy the principles of negotiation on which democracy rests.
posted
I have only a very limited knowledge of what is really going on, but here is the problem.
We are trying to bring enough peace and security to Iraq to allow us to go away.
AlSadr keeps telling his people to kill Americans, and any Iraqi that doesn't join him.
When he killed another Cleric, we put a warrant out for him, but didn't go to any extremes. We didn't want to disturb him that much.
Then reports came in linking him to massive car bombings and deaths. He wanted to conquer the Shi-ites in Iraq and turn them into his own personal army of liberation.
He was talking genocide against the Sunni's and the Khurds.
He was talking about joining up with Hammas and other terrorist groups.
He is dangerous.
And he is not innocent. He is using one of the most holy sites of the Shi'ite world as his shield. He murders others of his faith to get his way. He ignores the negotiated offers made by other mullah's, prefering forced martydom of his followers.
He is a fool, and a powerful fool. Those are always dangerous.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
He kind of popped up at the wrong time. He doesn't seem to want to negotiate peacefully. He's young and crazy for power. He's pretty much the kind of guy that can't be there if any kind of peace is going to be restored.
However, my personal opinion is that capturing or killing him will turn him into quite a martyr.
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