Iraq: Day Six of Operation “Charge of the Knights”

Day Six of Operation...
“Charge of the Knights”
Sunday, March 30, 2008

The best and newest news out of Iraq today is that the Iraqi Shi'ite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called on ALL of his followers to stop battling the Government Forces... In return the Iraqi Government welcomed this news as a positive sign. However... it is also being reported today that the Iraqi Troops will continue with Operation “Charge of the Knights” and they will not stop until all their goals are met...
AubreyJ.........

Let see how the MSM is reporting the news out of Iraq today...

* BBC News...
Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has ordered his fighters off the streets of Basra and other cities in an effort to end clashes with security forces... He said in a statement that his movement wanted the Iraqi people to stop the bloodshed and maintain the nation's independence and stability...
Read this report in full at link below...
Iraqi cleric calls off militias

* CNN.com...
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told his followers to stop fighting and to cooperate with Iraqi security forces Sunday, as U.S. and Iraqi forces targeted his Mehdi Army in Basra and Baghdad... Al-Maliki compared the outlaws, on whom the government is cracking down, to al Qaeda and said troops would not leave Basra "until security is restored.”... "We will continue to stand up to these gangs in every inch of Iraq," he said. "It is unfortunate that we used to use say these very words about al Qaeda, when all the while, there were people among us who are worse than al Qaeda."...
The full report is at link below...
Al-Sadr calls off fighting amid airstrikes, crackdown

* FOXNews.com...
The following is a small part of the transcript of the Sunday, March 30, 2008 edition of "FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace"...
(Wallace interviews Senators Graham and Reed in today’s show.)
...
GRAHAM: Well, I would argue we have stabilized events in Iraq dramatically by having better security.

There are really three fights going on. The fight against Al Qaeda in Anbar has turned our way dramatically because the Anbar province is now liberated from Al Qaeda because Sunni Arab Iraqis aligned with us to fight Al Qaeda, and that's been a great success story, the surge.

The Kurdish separatists in the north have been contained — military operations by Turkey but, more importantly, by Iraqi Kurdish politicians trying to control the separatist movement.

Now the fight's moved to the south. Iran is backing the Shia militias. I don't know how much power Al-Sadr has. If he said stop fighting tomorrow, I don't know if people would listen.

Part of the problem has been that the cease-fire was never fully embraced by the Shia militias — the Mahdi army in the south. So at the end of the day, Sadr is a minority within the parliament. Politically, he's a minority.

The other Shia parties have rallied around Maliki. So have the Sunnis. If he comes out of this thing stronger politically and militarily, and his desire is to align with Iran, it's a bad thing.

If he comes to the table and will become a more productive partner in uniting Iraq, it would be a good thing. I think the jury's still out...
Read the full transcript at FOXNews.com

* CSMonitor.com has this report out and it goes in part like this...
...It's the latest episode in a strategy that has been under way for some time now to draw out the militia's hard-core elements, thus dividing it into "good" and "bad," according to the deputy chief of staff of Iraq's armed forces, a secular Shiite who has strong ties to US military commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus... "There is the good, bad, and ugly, but the heads are linked. Now we are rooting out the bad guys," says Gen. Naseer al-Abadi...
Read the rest below...
Sadr reins in Shiite militiamen, sends mixed signals.

Iraq Flag Image Courtesy of CIA

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Al-Sadr Tells Followers to End Violence in Iraq

About News Video: The Iraqi prime minister says a decision by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to pull his fighters off the streets is "a step in the right direction."
News Video posted on YouTube by AssociatedPress