Influential Shi’ite cleric and leader of the top political bloc in Iraq Moqtada al-Sadr has announced Friday that he is reactivating his paramilitary group, the Mahdi Army, issuing a statement on Twitter telling them to “be ready.”
The Mahdi Army was a major faction from the US occupation of Iraq in 2003 until 2007, when they made a deal with the Iraqi government to disband. Sadr has at times suggested he would reform the militia to ensure the US complied with pullout dates.
Sadr has long opposed the Iraqi government’s reliance on both Iran and the US, and the reconstitution of the Mahdi Army is a response to recent US attacks against other Shi’ite militias.
The Mahdi Army previously existed before the establishment of the government-run PMU force, and it is unclear if it will consider itself aligned with them, or will simply operate independently, as it used to.
So it won’t be a “new war” then. Still Obama’s fault……;?[
Joe Biden said an Iraq War would result in 3 countries like a parfait on the map (paraphrasing here). Kurds on top. Sunni in the middle. Shia on the bottom. Crazy Joe.
Obama’s fault, Junior Bush’s fault, Clinton’s (both of em) fault, and Daddy Bush’s fault who started it all with telling Saddam we had no fight in Iraq’s dispute with Kuwait and then back-tracked on that policy.
And a shoutout to the gop that voted unanimously for the big 3 authorizations iraq 1,2, and Afghanistan, and no doubt unanimously support this war crime.
Wrong – Rand Paul doesn’t.
Rand Paul wasn’t in Congress until 2011, he was doctoring.
….but his Republican Daddy was.
He wasnt a republican for the votes..independent
Ron Paul, (born August 20, 1935, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.), American politician, who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1976–77, 1979–85, 1997–2013) and who unsuccessfully ran as the 1988 Libertarian presidential candidate. He later sought the Republican nomination for president in 2008 and 2012.
Oh right, when Lieberman was a democrat. I stand corrected…here, correct this….
1st Iraq war…start of it all
House
Gop…war 164…no war..3
Dems..war 86…no war 179
Senate
Gop…war 42 ..no war..2
Dems…war 10..no war..45
2nd Iraq war
House
Gop..war 215..no war 6
Dems..war 81..no war 126
Senate
Gop…war 48..no war 1
Dems..war 29..no war 21
Tell me John, do those numbers look the “same” ?
As you can see, by the arithmetic, if the gop voted the “same” as the dems, neither authorization passes.
Now, when you mumble about it is about which party is in the presidency, I assure you, it just shows how you think, not the members of congress.
Who were the influential DNC who came out against Madeline Albright’s comment on 60 Minutes that 500,000 dead Iraqi kids was, “worth it”?
Don’t know, what does that have to do with congressional votes ? Pretty standard answer to shift to the executive branch when I am pointing out the jackbooted GOP war voting record in congress. Try something which relates for a change. Heres the arithmetic John….if the gop voted the same as the dems in Iraq 1, it doesn’t pass, hence no sanctions, or 500,ooo dead, or Madeline Albright’s trump-like statement. No, 911, no Afghan war for the gop to again vote unanimously for, or Iraq war 2, for them to once again vote unanimously for. Who the hell you defending John ? on an antiwar page ?
By the way, maybe trump could hire Albright to be pr for the sanctions he splooges all over the world…no death count yet, cause they still happening.
No one needs congressional votes any more. The only valid Congressional votes are Declarations of War, per our Constitution. The rest is just window dressing for supporting whichever warmongering party occupies the WH.
Months ago, trump labeled the Iranian Guard a terror group. This was done so the murder of the Iranian general could comply with the war on terror authorization. Pence labeling him as abetting 9-11 suspects does the same thing. That authorization was passed by congress, don’t even try to say it doesn’t matter. You want to criticize the dems fine, you are doing a poor job of it by saying they are the “same” as the gop. If you want the US out of these wars and militarism, get the gop out of congress, it is that simple.
Justin started this page to try to establish an antiwar faction within the gop. As much as I admire his effort, it flat out didnt happen, in fact, they are worse.
The only poster defending anyone is you, defending Congressional democrats,who love wars just as much as the Republican neocons. All you have to do is look at the austere support Tulsi Gabbard is garnering from all those peace-loving Democrats.
Guess you are just going to ignore the 2 iraq war votes, which were most critical.
Yugoslav Bombings/military actions: Sixteen Republicans joined 42 Democrats in authorizing the bombing. Three Democrats and 38 Republicans opposed it. California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer supported the president.
There you go with all those peace-loving Dems in the Senate supporting the President of THEIR political party. You see the pattern? Dems hate wars Repubs like; Repubs hate wars Dems like – all depends if their political party is in the White House
Yes, the Gingrich/McCain majority of GOP opposed the bombing (at that time), not because they opposed the war, but, because Clinton would not go all in with troops on the ground, and occupation.
There were several mixed, and confused congressional votes over Kosovo, including a large dem opposition to the whole thing. Far from an example of the gop being “antiwar”.
There was never ever any discussion of sending ground troops into Serbia, ever.
No, definitely a new war and a Trump war if the Sadr militia engages U.S. troops.
The Sadr militia was disbanded. More germane to the point, the Sadr militia was never incorporated into the Iraqi Armed Forces, meaning the Iraqi state is far less accountable for their actions.
However, that also means a pro-US Iraqi state could theoretically turn against Sadr and remove him from power for taking up arms, giving the U.S. the same legitimacy in an Iraqi civil war versus Sadr as enjoyed when taking on IS Sunni militias.
The only question would be the legitimacy of the Iraqi state in the eyes of Iraqis for doing so.
Its not clear if the Iraqi state has anti-militia laws; they don’t appear to. Nor would one be necessary for an arbitrary political decision.
Al-Sadr is still a power in Iraq with a devoted following. If he reconstitutes what is essentially a militia there will be US casualties unless President Trump pulls all troops out of Iraq.
Smart move Sadr… making it clear that Iraq’s politicians will decide to kick US forces out soon, or his unconventional forces will get started on the task themselves and give the govt even less appealing choices to make.
Good article. Sadr’s militia gives the Iraq its own proxy force to wield against Iran and the U.S..
The legal status of the PMUs restrains them from acting against foreign actors, especially the U.S., as the Iraqi government is loosely accountable for their actions.
Its one of the reasons why holding Soleimani responsible for militia attacks the U.S. Embassy was kind of iffy; technically PMU members would implicate the government by doing so, and Soleimani would know this, although they were acting outside PMU authorization.