April 17, 2004
Iraq
Addressing thousands of worshippers in Kufa, Mr Sadr said: "I say that they are here to stay and will occupy us for many years and, as such, compromise will not work." He called his armed campaign "the Revolution of Imam Mahdi", the 12th Imam of Iraq's Shias.More: "I address the agents of the west ... they say that we are delaying the handover of power and the formation of government, but I tell them that we have delayed selling Iraq and creating a government of agents."
Before this statement, however, we got this from CPA spokesman Dan Senor: "We believe that there is no role for the Iranians to play middleman in discussions between us and al-Sadr. In fact we believe that the issue with Sadr and his militia should be resolved by Iraqis, not Iranians."
An American official in Iraq did meet with an Iranian official today as regards al-Sadr. And the Iranians apparently did not meet with al-Sadr.
Meanwhile, Sistani says Najaf is "off limits," his representative calling both Najaf and Karbala "red lines."
Watching the incredibly unlucky Pfc. Keith Maupin on TV, it is easy to realize one thing: for all of Bush's tough talk, the Iraqis are meaner than us. Americans are good at remote killing, with bombs and rockets and cannon, but we cannot stare into a camera with hostages. At least for politics. ......Posted by Norwood at April 17, 2004 12:25 AMEveryone wants the hostages to come home alive, which is what they are playing on. They want us to beg for their release. But at the same time, we better realize that they will kill them all if they have to. They will raise the level of pain well past what we can bear. And no matter what Bush says, we will break. Because they will match our tough words with their tough actions.
