Long over due.
Bruce http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501 <http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=a rticle&id=246669309788116> &status=article&id=246669309788116 Go After Sadr <http://oascentral.investors.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/investors/today_ in_IBD/smart_investor/204999145/Middle2/Investors/IBD_HOUSE_336x280_2005/OAe IBD_2_336V2.gif/34336134653133343435343063346230?> War On Terror: Of all the hurdles to victory in Iraq - from crazed al-Qaida to meddling neighbors to Sunni Baathists who still follow Saddam - none is as troubling as the militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. As President Bush said Wednesday, "Our security at home depends on assuring that Iraq is an ally in the war on terror." We couldn't agree more. That's why we're in Iraq. But no government in Iraq can truly be an ally in the war on terror if it is itself allied with those who are terrorists - a description that fits Sadr's Mahdi Army perfectly. This we found out Wednesday, when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who relies on Sadr's political support in the heavily Shiite south, harshly criticized a U.S.-Iraqi raid on militia troops loyal to the cleric. Such a raid "will not be repeated," al-Maliki asserted. This spells trouble for Iraq - trouble that could have been avoided had we taken care of Sadr years ago. After Saddam Hussein was removed from power in 2003, most Shiites initially treated U.S. and allied troops as liberators, not occupiers. But that changed quickly. As the initial phase of the war got under way, Sadr had a rival Shiite cleric, Abdul Majid al-Khoei, who was also said to be pro-Western and friendly to the U.S., murdered. Within weeks, Sadr instigated uprisings in Basra, Najaf, Karbala and other Iraqi cities. They were quashed by U.S. forces, but at the cost of dozens of Marines' lives. An Iraqi arrest warrant was issued for Sadr in al-Khoei's killing. U.S. administrator in Iraq L. Paul Bremer, to his credit, repeatedly threatened to "capture or kill" the troublesome cleric. For a variety of reasons both political and military, we never nabbed him. Nor did Iraq's government. Now we're paying for it. >From a handful of followers in 2003, Sadr now has more than 5,000 men under arms, according to U.S. intelligence estimates. And as it turns out, Sadr is a major client of Iran's extremist mullahs. He'll keep sending young Iraqi Shiites to their death on behalf of a foreign power - particularly if it means destroying any chance Iraq has of being a stable democracy. Iran's role in backing Sadr is worrisome. It's well-known that, shortly after Saddam's fall, 2,000 Iranian fighters stole into Iraq to fight U.S. troops and Iraq's temporary government. Since then, U.S. forces have detained literally hundreds of Iranian troops in Iraq, many of them there in support of Sadr. Indeed, in August 2004, Iraqi forces captured 30 Iranians fighting alongside Sadr's forces. That same month, Asharq al-Awsat, a London-based Arab newspaper, reported that Iran was giving Sadr $80 million a month - courtesy of Iran's booming oil revenues. Sadr may be a thug, but money makes him a player. So Sadr now is Iran's cat's-paw in Iraq. And as his influence grows, so does Iran's - along with the likelihood that Iraq will become little more than a province of Iran if allied forces withdraw. "Sadr is not the only Islamist Shia leader receiving aid from Tehran," Michael Rubin, former adviser to both the Pentagon and Coalition Provisional Authority, wrote two years ago. Today, that's still true, but Sadr is now the most dangerous by far. As the U.S. asks Iraq's government to follow a new timetable, maybe we should also ask it to do what should have been done a long time ago: destroy Sadr's militia - before it destroys Iraq. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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