Sadr Tells His Mehdi Army To Extend Cease Fire

Mookie blinked. Iranian-backed cleric Moqtada al-Sadr told his Mehdi Army to continue observance of a cease fire against U.S. and IA army forces in Iraq. Here's his decision:

"Any member of the Mehdi Army who conducts violent acts during the ceasefire, the Sadr office declares they will no longer be part of the Mehdi Army," Sadr said in a statement read to Reuters by Ubaidi.

Now, before we have a party here, last time this was announced like this, about 1/4 of his "army" decided to go against him and formed their own army and basically they had to be eliminated. This could very well happen again this time. But at the same time, this shows the respect that U.S. troops have gained in time in Iraq. Sadr knows that if he had gone the other way, U.S. troops were poised to pounce. At the same time, Sadr knows that the tide has turned for much of the populace and that his Mehdis would not enjoy the tight-lipped society he had one time a few years ago.

Here's the full story.

Iraq's Sadr tells militia to keep observing freeze

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Mehdi Army militia to maintain its six-month ceasefire, Sadr's spokesman said on Thursday, while his militiamen clashed with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers.
Salah al-Ubaidi said the ceasefire, which expires later this month, should continue to be observed until militia members are told it is over or has been renewed.
Some members of Shi'ite cleric Sadr's bloc are pressuring him not to extend August 29's freeze on the feared Mehdi Army's activities, which has been vital to cutting violence in Iraq.
Attacks across the country have fallen by 60 percent since June 2007 and a return to hostilities could seriously jeopardize those security gains.

Ubaidi, one of the cleric's most senior officials in the southern holy city of Najaf, declined to comment on whether the ceasefire would be extended when its six-month term lapses.
Amid signs of growing restlessness, Iraqi police said Mehdi Army fighters had clashed with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers early on Thursday in Sadr City, the sprawling Shi'ite slum in northeast Baghdad which is one of Sadr's power bases.
Police said three people, including a woman and a child, were hurt in the clashes and 16 detained.
A U.S. military spokesman said one person was killed and another was injured when U.S. and Iraqi soldiers conducted raids "targeting criminal elements".
Sadr, who led two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004, ordered the Mehdi Army to observe the ceasefire so he could reorganize the splintered militia.
Mehdi Army fighters had often been involved in fierce clashes with U.S. troops or Sunni Arab groups, and the Pentagon once described it as the greatest single threat to peace in Iraq -- a term now it now uses for Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.