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Arrest Warrant For Muqtada Al Sadr

Juan Cole 10/23/2003

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Arrest Warrant for Muqtada al-Sadr?

The Guardian reports today that sources close to the Interim Governing Council say an arrest warrant is being prepared for fiery young Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr. They say his organizing activities have come to be seen as a growing threat, and he will be charged in the murder of Majid al-Khoei on April 10, based on interviews with over 20 men apprehended in the wake of that incident.

Muqtada’s organizing of a private militia and his plans for a shadow government are a threat to stability in Iraq. It seems to me, however, that it would be very difficult to prove that he ordered al-Khoei killed, given the chaos after April 9. There is a danger that this arrest is prompted by the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which is a rival to Muqtada’s organization and which has a seat on the Interim Govering Council.

In my view, it probably would have been better incrementally to coopt Sadrist neighborhoods, using carrots rather than a stick. Arresting Muqtada makes him a martyr, and will ensure regular demonstrations against the US by his cadres. It may cut his network down to size; but it may also galvanize it to expand.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/

archives/2003/10/23/2003073024

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

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