IRAQ MEDAN PEMBUNUHAN TAJAAN AMERIKA
بسم الله الر حمن الر حيم
The threat came as tens of thousands of people marched across the capital Baghdad, marking the eighth anniversary of former leader Saddam Hussein's fall on Saturday.
He has continually criticised the US military presence in Iraq.
Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army continue to battle US and Iraqi forces [AFP]
Iraq akan terus bergolak dan menuju kemusnahan disebabkan kebiadaban Amerika yang menceroboh dan meruntuhkan pemerintahan sebuah negara berdaulat , kini dijadi medan pembunuhan yang gagal dikawal dan berlarutan . Terbaru , Moqtada Al Sadr ( kepemimpinan Syiah Iraq ) muncul semula membuat desakan supaya Amerika mengundurkan tentera sebelum akhir tahun ini . Kemunculan Moqtada pasti akan merumitkan lagi keadaan di Iraq dan kematian akan bertambah . Keganasan akan terus mendominasi persekitaran dan pembunuhan akan berterusan . Adakah Iraq akan terus gawat dan menuju kemusnahan ?
Laporan ini akan menjawab segalanya !!!
Moqtada al Sadr, a prominent Iraqi Shia cleric, has threatened to revive his Mehdi Army and relaunch armed resistance against continued US presence in the country.
The threat came as tens of thousands of people marched across the capital Baghdad, marking the eighth anniversary of former leader Saddam Hussein's fall on Saturday.
A spokesperson of al Sadr, said the US had until the end of the year to meet the cleric's demands.
The Shia leader, returned to Iraq from a self-imposed exile following a strong showing by his bloc in the 2010 parliamentary election in January 2011.
Al Jazeera correspondent Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said that this time Sadr had not only warned US troops but also the contractors.
"The rally marks the start of new campaign by one of the most powerful political forces in Iraq and it must be remembered that the Shia leader had fought against the US army in 2004," she said.
"The protests were also directed against the government for not providing jobs and basic services to the people."
Shortly after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Shia leader had spoken out against the Coalition Provisional Authority, led by Paul Bremer.
He has continually criticised the US military presence in Iraq.
Al-Sadr froze his militia in 2007, dramatically reducing violence in the country.
His appeal to the poor and dispossessed accounts for much of his popularity, but some Iraqis support him as symbol of resistance against US presence.
The Mahdi Army is an armed group loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shia leader from a family line of revered clerics persecuted under Saddam Hussein - Iraq's former president.
The group was formed in 2003 to protect Shia areas due to the collapse of public order in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Its members are often popular in the neighbourhoods they control because the group offers services that the Iraqi government is often unable to provide.
"This is an army of volunteers ... They are clerics at night and heroes during the day," said Abu Bakr, a resident of Baghdad's Sadr City district.
"This army is helping society. They clean the streets, protect our schools and distribute fuel and gas."
Sadr City is one of the group's strongholds and there the Mahdi Army has banned black markets, which are rampant in the rest of the capital, and members man strict neighbourhood security checkpoints to search for car bombs.
"Ask anyone around," one of its fighters said, "they will tell you that without our presence, they will not be able to sleep at night, [and] students will not be able to go to school, like in the rest of the capital, where people are scared."
The group rose to international prominence on April 4, 2004, when it spearheaded the first major armed confrontation against the US forces in Iraq, in an uprising that followed the banning of al-Sadr's newspaper and attempts to arrest him. The uprising lasted until June.
Anti-US stance
The Mahdi Army began as a small group of roughly 500 religious students connected with Muqtada al-Sadr in Sadr City.
The Iraq Study Group, also known as the Baker-Hamilton Commission, last year estimated that the force had 60,000 members, but others put the number much larger, saying that the Mahdi Army is present in every city and town - from Baghdad to the southern border with Kuwait.
US forces first clashed with the Mahdi Army in
2004 when it rose up in revolt [GALLO/GETTY]
Al-Sadr is against the presence of foreign troops in Iraq and has demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces.
He told Al Jazeera that the Mahdi Army will only disarm when an administration that can "get the occupier out of Iraq" is present.
The Mahdi Army is capable of "liberating Iraq", he said, maintaining that the US-backed government is as "distant" from the Iraqi people as Saddam Hussein's.
Many Sunnis are fearful of the group, which they accuse of carrying out a relentless campaign against them.
Abdullah, a Sunni student in Baghdad, told Al Jazeera: "If anyone from them [the Mahdi Army] recognised that I am Sunni, then I will be targeted."
The group is accused of infiltrating the security forces and its members have reportedly used police uniforms to set up fake checkpoints and hunt down Sunnis.
The Mahdi Army had in the past concentrated on fighting US troops, and on two occasions sent aid to Sunni fighters in Falluja during military offensives led by US forces.
But that support dried up in February 2006, when the Askari mosque, a holy site for Shia Muslims in Samarra, was bombed. Within hours of the bombing, young people were riding around the capital on the back of pickup lorries, parading guns and vowing revenge.
Al-Sadr, however, insists that Sunni fighters are allies of the Mahdi Army and that he stands with them politically.
"I am an admirer of the Sunnis and one of them," he told Al Jazeera.
Accused of being influenced by Shia neighbour Iran, al-Sadr says he has told the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, that he does not approve of the "political and military interests" that Tehran's government has pursued in Iraq.
Mahdi Army commanders, though, say they have accepted arms and cash from Iran.
Continued clashes
Last year saw a significant drop in violence across Iraq, largely due to a ceasefire between the government and the al-Sadr's followers, according to the US military.
However, a recent bout of fighting has resulted in fighters loyal to al-Sadr locked in battles with US and Iraqi forces. An operation against Shia militia groups in Basra on March 25, launched by Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, was aimed at cracking down on armed groups and strengethening government-backed forces.
However, al-Sadr maintains that Mahdi Army fighters are being unfailry targeted, despite the efforts he believes that the group has made in trying to restore a sense of stability ot the country.
US and British forces gave reconnaissance and tactical support to the Iraqi military during the crackdown, which triggered clashes across Shia areas of Iraq, including Sadr City, al-Sadr's stronghold.
Although al-Sadr called his Mahdi Army fighters off the streets of Basra soon after the violence, raids by government forces have continued.
Hundreds of people have been killed and wounded since the operation.
Al-Sadr withdrew from public view in 2008, in part to study to become a religious authority like his ancestors. He says, however, that he maintains control of the group through a ruling committee.
Politicians loyal to al-Sadr form a 30-member bloc in the Iraqi parliament.
The Mahdi Army and its leader have been branded by the US as one of the biggest threats in Iraq, and whether al-Maliki will be able to subdue the group remains to be seen,
PROFILE Muqtada al sadr
The Shia leader aims to establish himself as a political and religious force in Iraq
Muqtada al-Sadr, of Lebanese ancestry, comes from a family of Shia scholars. He is the fourth son of the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, a highly regarded scholar throughout the Shia Muslim world.
Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr was murdered, along with two of his sons, allegedly by the government of Saddam Hussein - the former Iraqi president.
Al-Sadr is also the son-in-law of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr. Muqtada's father-in-law was executed by the Iraqi authorities in 1980.
Al-Sadr's cousin is Moussa as-Sadr, the Iranian-Lebanese founder of the Amal movement.
Despite his lineage and connections, he lacks the religious education and degrees required by Shia doctrine to take the title mujtahid (the equivalent of a senior religious scholar) and he lacks the authority to issue religious edicts (fatwas).
'Mullah Atari'
Before his father's assassination, al-Sadr studied in a seminary. According to Vali Nasr, a Shia scholar, he failed to finish his education and, as a student, was nicknamed "Mullah Atari" for his preference for video games over "the intricacies of Shia law and theology".
Shortly after the US-led invasion of Iraq, al-Sadr spoke out against the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), led by Paul Bremer, a former director of reconstruction and humanitarian assistance.
He stated that he had more legitimacy than the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC).
Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army continue to battle US and Iraqi forces [AFP]
In April 2003, his followers organised as the so-called Sadr Bureau and began providing services throughout Sadr City. The services ranged from health care to food and clean water.
Later in 2003, residents of Sadr City met in neighbourhood caucuses to elect neighbourhood councils, and ultimately a district council to represent the Sadr City district.
The Sadr Bureau, aided by armed Sadrists called the al-Mahdi Army, attempted to remove the new district council by force and occupied the district council hall for several weeks.
But US troops removed them and the elected council resumed its duties. Despite this, the Sadr Bureau and the Mahdi Army have continued to act within Sadr City almost unhindered by US and Iraqi forces.
Muqtada al-Sadr has continually criticised the US military presence in Iraq. He says that the primary purpose of the Mahdi Army is to restore stability to the country.
It is a common belief that al-Sadr wishes to create a theocracy in Iraq, although al-Sadr himself has on occasion stated that he wishes to create an "Islamic democracy".
Al-Sadr mixes Iraqi nationalism and Shia religiosity, making him a figurehead for many of Iraq's poor Shia Muslims.
His appeal to the poor and dispossessed accounts for much of his popularity, but some Iraqis support him as symbol of resistance to the unwanted US presence.
Political foray
Followers of al-Sadr stood for parliament as part of the United Iraqi Alliance bloc of Shia political groups in December 2005.
But in November 2006, al-Sadr declared a boycott of the Iraqi government in protest over a summit held by Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, and George Bush, the US president, in Jordan.
The boycott lasted for two months, with the Sadrists eventually returning to their positions.
In April 2007, al-Sadr called a rally in Najaf, demanding al-Maliki agree a timetable for withdrawal of US-led troops in Iraq.
Since then, sporadic clashes have continued in Iraq, between fighters loyal to al-Sadr and US and Iraqi forces. Hundreds of people have been killed, along with thousands injured.
The exact motives of al-Sadr's movement remains unclear, but what is gaining clarity is the continued struggle for power launched by an increasingly influential religious party.
Al-Sadr reportedly moved to Qom, Iran in August 2008, after suspending the activities of his fighters.
Following a strong showing by his bloc in the 2010 parliamentry election, he returned to Najaf in January 2011
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