Iraq's Sadr warns against post-2011 US presence
(AFP)
<p>NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) ? Radical anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr warned that any US training mission in Iraq after 2011 would amount to an occupation force and need to be opposed by “military means,” in a letter seen on Sunday.</p> <p> The letter, released on Saturday in the Shiite cleric’s base in the shrine city of Najaf, came after Baghdad agreed to open talks with Washington for a training mission post-2011, when all US troops are due to have left.</p> <p> “We will treat anyone who stays in Iraq as an oppressive occupier that should be resisted through military means,” Sadr, who divides his time between Iran and Najaf, said in a letter released by his office.</p> <p> “The government that agrees to their stay, even if it is for training, is a weak government.”</p> <p> In another letter released by his office on Sunday, he said that “we should stand together to reject the presence of the infidel occupier and the armies of darkness, and we refuse any presence of bases or trainers.”</p> <
Iraq cleric to followers: Stop attacking US troops
(AP) <p>BAGHDAD ? An anti-American cleric is urging his followers to stop attacking U.S. troops in Iraq so that their withdrawal from the country isn’t slowed down, a call meant to ramp up pressure on Baghdad’s political leaders who are considering asking some American forces to stay.</p> <p>In a statement posted on his website, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told his militias to halt attacks against U.S. forces till the withdrawal is finished at the end of the year as required under a security agreement between Washington and Baghdad.</p> <p>“Out of my desire to complete Iraq’s independence and to finish the withdrawal of the occupation forces from our holy lands, I am obliged to halt military operations of the honest Iraqi resistance until the withdrawal of the occupation forces is complete,” al-Sadr said in the statement, posted late Saturday. Sadrist lawmaker Mushraq Naji confirmed the statement on Sunday.</p> <p>However, al-Sadr warned that “if the withdrawal doesn’t happen … the milita
Iraq cleric to followers: Stop attacking US troops
(AP) <p>BAGHDAD ? An anti-American cleric is urging his followers to stop attacking U.S. troops in Iraq so that their withdrawal from the country isn’t slowed down, a call meant to ramp up pressure on Baghdad’s political leaders who are considering asking some American forces to stay.</p> <p>In a statement posted on his website, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told his militias to halt attacks against U.S. forces till the withdrawal is finished at the end of the year as required under a security agreement between Washington and Baghdad.</p> <p>“Out of my desire to complete Iraq’s independence and to finish the withdrawal of the occupation forces from our holy lands, I am obliged to halt military operations of the honest Iraqi resistance until the withdrawal of the occupation forces is complete,” al-Sadr said in the statement, posted late Saturday. Sadrist lawmaker Mushraq Naji confirmed the statement on Sunday.</p> <p>However, al-Sadr warned that “if the withdrawal doesn’t happen … the milita
Iraq cleric to followers: Stop attacking US troops
(AP) <p>BAGHDAD ? An anti-American cleric is urging his followers to stop attacking U.S. troops in Iraq so that their withdrawal from the country isn’t slowed down, a call meant to ramp up pressure on Baghdad’s political leaders who are considering asking some American forces to stay.</p> <p>In a statement posted on his website, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told his militias to halt attacks against U.S. forces till the withdrawal is finished at the end of the year as required under a security agreement between Washington and Baghdad.</p> <p>“Out of my desire to complete Iraq’s independence and to finish the withdrawal of the occupation forces from our holy lands, I am obliged to halt military operations of the honest Iraqi resistance until the withdrawal of the occupation forces is complete,” al-Sadr said in the statement, posted late Saturday. Sadrist lawmaker Mushraq Naji confirmed the statement on Sunday.</p> <p>However, al-Sadr warned that “if the withdrawal doesn’t happen … the milita
Iraq cleric to followers: Stop attacking US troops
(AP) <p>BAGHDAD ? An anti-American cleric is urging his followers to stop attacking U.S. troops in Iraq so that their withdrawal from the country isn’t slowed down, a call meant to ramp up pressure on Baghdad’s political leaders who are considering asking some American forces to stay.</p> <p>In a statement posted on his website, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told his militias to halt attacks against U.S. forces till the withdrawal is finished at the end of the year as required under a security agreement between Washington and Baghdad.</p> <p>“Out of my desire to complete Iraq’s independence and to finish the withdrawal of the occupation forces from our holy lands, I am obliged to halt military operations of the honest Iraqi resistance until the withdrawal of the occupation forces is complete,” al-Sadr said in the statement, posted late Saturday. Sadrist lawmaker Mushraq Naji confirmed the statement on Sunday.</p> <p>However, al-Sadr warned that “if the withdrawal doesn’t happen … the milita
Iraq's Sadr warns against post-2011 US presence
(AFP) <p>NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) ? Radical anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr warned that any US training mission in Iraq after 2011 would amount to an occupation force and need to be opposed by “military means,” in a letter seen on Sunday.</p> <p> The letter, released on Saturday in the Shiite cleric’s base in the shrine city of Najaf, came after Baghdad agreed to open talks with Washington for a training mission post-2011, when all US troops are due to have left.</p> <p> “We will treat anyone who stays in Iraq as an oppressive occupier that should be resisted through military means,” Sadr, who divides his time between Iran and Najaf, said in a letter released by his office.</p> <p> “The government that agrees to their stay, even if it is for training, is a weak government.”</p> <p> In another letter released by his office on Sunday, he said that “we should stand together to reject the presence of the infidel occupier and the armies of darkness, and we refuse any presence of bases or trainers.”</p> <
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