He is very influential. He definately is giving headache to the invading forces.
2006-12-05 02:40:04 · 5 answers · asked by pgmetassan 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
His 'influence' comes from Iranian money and armed thugs.
Remember the battle of Najif? He was the guy whose militias got trounced by the US and the Iraqi people applauded our doing it.
I guess that the media is right - you people only remember back to about six months ago.
2006-12-05 04:08:00 · answer #1 · answered by MikeGolf 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sadr is nothing new. He has been around a while but he is very young as far as clerics go and he does not garner much support beyond poor, uneducated, shiites, in the Baghdad slums. He is not well respected by anyone with any intelligence or the older population of Iraq and the senior clerics view him as a sort of "upstart". You may have seen that a lot of his following is concentrated in Sadr City (in NW Baghdad). The city is actually named after his father or grandfather (I can't remember which) so he has some genealogical clout to throw around. Other than that he actually does not have the religious credentials or privilege to call for a jihad or to issue a "fatwa" so technically no one should even be paying attention to him, except he has a bunch of guns so he becomes an issue.
When I was in Iraq, we actually gave his Mahdi Army the nice little title of "enemy" which changed our rules of engagement. If we saw any Iraqi running around with black pajamas and a green headband we could shoot them on site, instead of waiting for them to shoot first. We didn't want to kill Sadr though because we feared it would turn him into a martyr. Look how well that turned out. Now Iran is in his pocket.
Why is Sadr a problem? The median age in Iraq is 19 years old (CIA World Factbook) so they have a ton of young people in a war torn country who are very impressionable and suscribe to his crap. Imagine if half the U.S. was 21 or younger and Britney Spears wanted to run for office!! She would probably get a lot of votes. Thank God we live in a country with a broader range of intellects and ages that keep things like this from happening. Due to demographics Iraq is very susceptible to any guy who controls "young minds".
2006-12-05 04:13:54 · answer #2 · answered by SL 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, he's a 'hero' to some over here, but Al Capone and John Gotti were heroes to people back in the U.S. Heck even Hitler was a hero to some. It just prove that there's always some idiot willing to follow someone else.
2006-12-05 03:13:01 · answer #3 · answered by Mitch 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
He is not new,he had a fairly large following before we arrived.He is now the number one problem in establishing any lasting government in the country.He is a religious radical and should be arrested if not shot.That would not solve the problem though it would only make him a martyr.If some way is not found to curb him and his followers then they must ultimately all be killed.
2006-12-05 02:47:46 · answer #4 · answered by Tommy G. 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
He's been there a long time - he's only news to the US. He's no hero to me.
2006-12-05 02:42:47 · answer #5 · answered by Paul H 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋