Sadr Wants To Extend "Activities Halt"

I like that, "activities halt". Or in plain English or any other language -- killing Americans--. I read something like this and I feel like going outside and howling at the friekin' moon. All the bullshit about the success of the surge is mostly just that, bullshit. I say for the hundredth time-- the reasons for the lull in violence is because the Iraqi's wanted a lull in violence. Does anyone with a brain think that the Sunnis are going to accept the status quo as it currently is. With Baghdad largely controlled by Shia and a central government the same. In any civil war there are always periods like this when loyalties shift along with tactics and strategies. Exactly nothing is settled and won't be as long as we're trying to run the circus. No matter how good our military is or honorable our intentions may be.
These are proud people who been fighting for 1400 years. As much as we would like them to stop and become peaceful democrats, it ain't gonna happen till Iraqi's want it to.
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Iraq News
Sadr to extend activities halt decision
Monday, February 11, 2008 11:14 GMT
Sayyed Moktada Al Sadr had earlier issued a statement during which he announced that all those who breach the decision of activities halt will be dismissed. Yet, it seems that this decision will be extended for 6 additional months. Sadrist Movement sources revealed that the Leader of the movement insists on extending this period. Sources told Al Hayat Newspaper that Al Sadr will announce this issue in the few upcoming days. To that, an official in the bloc who refused to reveal his name said that the next step would be to head towards participating in institutions and to resort to law as a referee.
Based on these principles, Sheikh Hazem Al Talkani, another official in the movement expected that extending the decision of activitiesn halt will not be the last and it would carry on until restructuring Al Mahdi army and transforming the same into a humanitarian organization akin to Badr forces.
Yet, the aforementioned decision warns that Sadrist movement could undergo further splits especially that this decision contradicts the reports submitted by the committees established by the movement especially the parliamentary committee. Actually, the reports utter that the decision of activities halt facilitated targeting the movement’s leaderships, arresting its members and carrying out organized assassinations against them. The director of Al Sadr media office in Al Najaf Sheikh Salah Al Ubaidi said that some of Al Sadr leaderships asked him to cancel halt decision and added that these calls increased following the visit from Mahdi Army members who were detained in Diwaniya after the armed battles that took place there. Especially that it has been revealed that the local authority in the province mistreated Al Sadr followers.
Nevertheless, others, such as a commander of an Al Mahdi army battalion in Al Kufa, went even farther by uttering skepticism as to Al Sadr decision. The commander told Al Hayat Newspaper that there is a conspiracy against Al Mahdi army that aims to liquidate it. He also wondered whether those who staged this conspiracy are members of the movement or outsiders. In addition, he considered that the decision to dismiss is an implicit announcement of abandoning Al Mahdi army members and it legitimizes the presence of foreign troops.

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