Operating from his perch in Iran, Iraqi radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has escalated his threats against the U.S., in a pre-emptive attempt to prevent any possibility of U.S. military forces remaining in Iraq after December 31.
Al-Sadr's militia is financed, armed and trained by Iran.
Initially, al-Sadr threatened to "'unfreeze"' his violent militia, Jaysh al-Mahdi (Mahdi Army), while the next day a leader in the Sadrist movement revealed the existence of a special military wing of Jaysh al-Mahdi that continues to resist the U.S. military by "carrying out daily and qualitative strikes at [US] headquarters and the airplanes in different regions of Iraq." The spokesman, Hazem al-'Araji, said that in the event of a failure to carry out the withdrawal agreement, "new jihadi elements will be added to the resistance."
Certain elements of Jaysh al-Mahdi which split from it after al-Sadr joins the political process are now clamoring to rejoin al-Sadr in the armed struggle against "the occupier."
The same al-'Araji declared yesterday that the existence of a U.S. Embassy is "occupation in a new garb' and called for severing diplomatic relations with the U.S.
In the meantime, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzadeh arrived in Baghdad yesterday, reflecting U.S. concerns about the political process in Iraq, in particular about the future of the national partnership coalition that might break up before the end of the year and on the eve of U.S. military withdrawal from the country.
Sources: Newsabah.com; Aljewar.org, April 11, 2011
