I gave Moqtada Sadr entirely too much credit in my earlier writings. It seems Sadr started out as a terrorist, threatening to kill Sistani and other Shiite leaders when he first returned to Iraq (no wonder Sistani doesn't support him!). The reason he didn't attack the US at the first opportunity wasn't because he was clever as I'd presumed and claimed, it was because he didn't have much of a force to attack with. It seems the Hamza militia was mostly created over the summer of last year.
Now it turns out that there is a whole big long list of Sadr's crimes against Iraq, apparently bolstered by evidence and testimony. Sadr's been trying to play The Great Game without a d20, and the Iraqis are pushing back. He's going down hard.
Posted by Warrior Tang at April 17, 2004 01:03 PM