Muqtada al-Sadr And King George Bush

Do you remember the name of Muqtada al-Sadr? The young leader of the Shia faction in the section of Baghdad known as Sadr City? Named so after his father, a very popular cleric who dared to oppose Saddam Hussein. Muqtada is also the leader, or a leader, of the armed militia known as the Mahdi Army. It was they who fought a pitched battle with US Marines in the cuty of Fallujah shortly before US forces all but destroyed the city. Basically, they fought the Marines to a standoff. None of the advanced weaponry, training, not even the US airpower, was enough to force a surrender. It was not until this battle ended and US forces ringed the city that Fallujah was very nearly destroyed and thousands of Iraqis made in to refugees.

Do you also recall the vow made by US forces to capture Muqtada and take him prisoner?
It was not an offhand comment, it was a promise. A promise made of ignorance and avarice.
Muqtada al-Sadr, the US forces slowly learned, was far too popular a figure among the majority Iraqi Shiite population, and Muqtada's political power far exceeded the comprehension of those individuals vowing to arrest him.

In the news out of Iraq today, a free and very vocal Muqtada issued another scathing criticism of the US occupation of his homeland, made another call for US forces to depart, and is now organizing a mass demonstration in Baghdad on the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

Just another example of the colossal failures and mistakes perpetrated by the Bush-Cheney Junta through their amazing combination of both malice and ignorance in truly historic proportions.