Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

Donate

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Email
  • RSS
  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2023 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Sistani Meets Muqtada Ceasefire Taking

Juan Cole 06/06/2004

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email
0 Shares

Sistani Meets Muqtada; Ceasefire Taking Hold

Fighting continued Saturday in East Baghdad. A roadside bomb killed two US soldiers and wounded two others. Mahdi Army militiamen attacked a police station and the police were supported by US troops in returning fire. They killed at least one militiaman.

In contrast, Najaf began returning to normal on Saturday, as Mahdi Army militiamen made themselve scarce except at the shrine of Imam Ali. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani met with Muqtada al-Sadr and commended him for his cooperation in ending the crisis, which had plunged the Shiite shrine cities into fierce combat with the American military. Sistani had earlier declined to meet Muqtada, and the two had earlier made no secret of their disdain for one another. Reuters speculates that the meeting demonstrates Muqtada’s substantial increase in stature as a result of the American attempt to arrest him.

The US military announced that the Mahdi Army had been defeated. While this assertion is technically true, it is not an accurate assessment of the situation. The Mahdi Army is just Shiite slum boys with guns. They may have melted away in the face of US firepower, but they aren’t really gone. They just went home and stored their guns in the basement. They could come back out at any moment, which is a problem for the caretaker government.

Al-Hayat says that there may be a loophole in Iraqi law that will permit the caretaker government to back off trying to arrest Muqtada. Other Iraqi sources suggest that Mahdi Army fighters will be integrated into the police and army and an attempt will be made to convince the Sadrists to become an ordinary political party.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is talking seriously about attempting to bring back elements of the Baath Army, saying that dissolving it was a huge error.

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

Primary Sidebar

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter and have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.

Twitter

Follow Juan Cole @jricole or Informed Comment @infcomment on Twitter

Facebook



Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2023 All Rights Reserved

Posting....