The Holy Warrior Demands
He may be a murderous inbred moron, but one thing Muqtada al-Sadr does not lack is audacity: Sadr sets conditions for end to Najaf fighting: aide.
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Shiite Muslim rebel leader Moqtada Sadr issued a list of conditions for an end to more than a week of deadly clashes between his militia and US troops and Iraqi forces, a spokesmen said.
The conditions were spelled out at a news conference at a hotel in the besieged holy city of Najaf by Sheikh Ali Sumeisim.
If all multinational forces, Iraqi police and soldiers leave Najaf and the Marjayia, or religious authority, agrees to take responsibility for the city, “the Mehdi Army would pull out from Najaf,” Sumeisim said.
All basic services must be restored, Sadr’s Mehdi Army recognised as an ideological movement and its members allowed to carry weapons for self-defence, Sumeisim continued.
Those jailed for supporting the resistance, all imprisoned clerics and women must also be released from prison, the spokesman added.