BAGHDAD (Rooters) - Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered heads of his Mehdi Army militia to | "Head for the hills of Iran! Those crazy Americans are shooting back this time!" |
Talabani said he was unaware of Sadr's whereabouts. The U.S. military has said the anti-American cleric is in Iran, but his aides insist he is in Iraq's holy Shi'ite city Najaf. An Iraqi government official said he was in Tehran, but only for a short visit. "I think many of his top Mehdi Army officials have been ordered to leave Iraq to make the mission of the security forces easier," the president was quoted as saying in a statement from his office.
| That's why they're called the Brave Lions of Islam™, you know. |
The statement from Talabani's office added that Sadr supported the crackdown and had given the government the go- ahead to arrest any "outlaws". Talabani told a news conference that Sadr had asked Mehdi members to
His comments and the melting away of many ordinary Mehdi fighters from Sadr City's streets are the clearest signs yet that the militia will not stand and fight like it did in 2004, when it twice rose up against American forces.
| Because they remember what happened both times. |