Just a very quick note before I get back to family time....
Al-Jazeera right now is discussing a threat by the Sadr movement to withdraw from the Iraqi government if Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki meets with President Bush in Amman, as scheduled. Since it's hard to imagine how Maliki could back out of such a meeting even if he wanted to, this means either Sadr could lose credibility over an empty threat or that Maliki's government could be about to collapse. Sadr also asked Association of Muslim Scholars leader Harith al-Dhari to publicly condemn the killing of Shia and joining with al-Qaeda in exchange for the lifting of the investigation warrant against him. Representatives of both the AMS and the Sadr trend were interviewed at length, with the segment capped with a quick overview of the relationship between the two movements (see screen capture above) - with some speculation about the possibility of an anti-occupation agreement overcoming the sectarian violence. More later...
As of now, apparently al-Dhari has turned down Sadr's request for an alliance, saying that he has never supported any kind of killing, whoever it is directed at. Amusing, but a slap in the face for Sadr at least. Also, OMS is no longer talking about quitting government if Maliki meets with Bush, but just suspending participation for a while.
Posted by: TJ | November 26, 2006 at 05:43 AM