Good News From Iraq: Al-Sadr Orders His troops To Lay Down Arms

The August 8 issue of the Chicago Tribune carried an Associated Press report that said, "Anti-U.S. Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr ordered most of his militiamen Friday to lay down their arms, and his spokesman said the young cleric might call off all resistance if the Americans accept a timetable to leave Iraq."

Who is Al-Sadr? Wikipedia describes him as, "Hojatoleslam Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr or Moktada al Sadr (سيد مقتدى الصدر Muqtadā aṣ-Ṣadr) (born August 12, 1973) is an Iraqi theologian, political leader and militia commander. Along with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Sadr is one of the most influential religious and political figures in the country not holding any official title in the Iraqi government. Muqtada al-Sadr is the fourth son of a famous Iraqi Shi‘a cleric, the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr."

Al-Sadr's followers have been linked in the past with assassinations and terrorist attacks. But I suspect that the Iraqi people, Shia, Sunni, and Kurd alike, are weary of the violence and dissension. Maybe Al-Sadr recognizes this, or recognizes the futility of continued warfare.

I choose to look on the positive side of this development, and hope that Al-Sadr will remain true to his word. He has urged his militia to become part of a new organization known as the Momahidoun. Posters promoting this new group proclaim, ""It is an ideological, cultural, religious and social army that will be charged with carrying out an intellectual and scientific holy war and to free the minds, hearts and souls from the secularist Western onslaught and is absolutely prohibited from the use of arms," I am not too concerned with the fiery rhetoric of "holy war" and "secular Western onslaught." After all, President Ford, in a speech on his plan to stop inflation, launched a short-lived public relations campaign in which he described the scope of his 'attack on inflation' as "the moral equivalent of war." Overblown rhetoric seems to afflict politicians regardless of national origin.

If Al-Sadr wants to engage in a war of ideologies based upon intellectual debate, then let the best philosophy win. No intimidation. No violence. Let the Iraqi people decide what their post-Saddam country should look like.

It's also time for Senator Obama to admit that the Surge has been a major success. The troop increase has resulted in what was once considered a pipe dream - a more peaceful Iraq. This advancement has been so dramatic, that it has led today to a point where a secure Iraq, complete with withdrawal of our combat troops, is being seriously discussed by all parties in this war.

Wouldn't you get a Surge of patriotism to see the following: a joint appearance by Senators Obama and McCain, in which Obama admits that he had backslid and fallen into the traditional politician's trap of being unwilling to admit an error. But now he wants to thank McCain for his foresight on the Surge, admit to its success, turn to McCain, shake his hand, and both turn to the camera, raising each other's hand and proclaiming loudly, "On this we are united - a free and independent Iraq taking its rightful place in the family of nations!"