Where is al-Sadr?
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Rice frames al-Sadr as coward in Iran
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mocked anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as a coward yesterday, hours after the radical leader threatened to declare war unless U.S. and Iraqi forces end a military crackdown on his followers.Condi, we heard you the first time. You think he is in Iran. How many times will you say it? Oh, I forgot you are, along with the others, trying to set the stage for an attack. Sorry, I forgot that Iran was the Evil Empire. Hey, has the evidence that Iran caused Katrina been released yet?
Miss Rice, in the Iraqi capital to tout security gains and what she calls an emerging political consensus, said Sheik al-Sadr is content to issue threats and edicts from the safety of Iran, where he is studying. Sheik al-Sadr heads an unruly militia that was the main target of an Iraqi government assault in the oil-rich city of Basra last month, and his future role as a spoiler is an open question. "I know he's sitting in Iran," Miss Rice said dismissively, when asked about Sheik al-Sadr's latest threat to lift a self-imposed cease-fire with government and U.S. forces. "I guess it's all-out war for anybody but him," Miss Rice said. "I guess that's the message; his followers can go to their deaths and he's in Iran."
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