Naughty boy.

"The events of the past week have made it necessary to announce it. It has been announced now so that all the people of Iraq understand that Muqtada al-Sadr is not a hero, a great religious leader or a man of peace, but a criminal and a thief."

U/I "legal adviser to the US-led occupation"

Arrest warrant in Iraq issued August 2003 for Iraqi Shia religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr.

• Accused of: April 2003 "assassination of Abd al-Majid al-Khoei, stabbed to death in the central Shia city of Najaf, along with two other people."
• Accused of: stealing donations to mosques and shrines from worshippers "worth a few hundred dollars."
• Wanted for questioning: "deaths four months ago of three people, including a pregnant woman."

"US charge list against al-Sadr grows." Aljazeera.Net, 4/7/04.

Other idiosyncracies:

• Attacks: Ordered attacks on Coalition forces in Iraq.
• Attacks: Ordered attack on "supporters of moderate Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani."
• Damage to religious site: Imam Al-Mahdi Army (outlawed as of 2004) caused battle damage at Imam Ali shrine in Al-Najaf (the, er . . . "holy" city of Najaf).
• Use of thugs: Recruited most of his Imam Al-Mahdi Army from criminals whom "Saddam released from prison weeks before the March 2003 invasion."
• Pursuit of revenge, use of torture: Imam Al-Mahdi Army occupied a court building in which Iraqi police found bodies of people "taken by the Moqtada militia for speaking out against Moqtada al Sadr." Some of the prisoners had eyes and ears drilled out and others had their limbs and heads cut off. Some males had genitals cut off and shoved in their mouths. There was evidence of rape to men, women and children."
• Control by/cooperation with terrorists: Receives aid from Iranian Revolutionary Guard and terrorists in Hezbollah.
• Rabble rousing: Ran newspaper that called for killing of al-Sadr opponents.
• Mental illness: Wraps self in a white funeral shroud meaning -- are you ready for this? -- that he . . . is . . . ready . . . for . . . death. (Talk about the road less traveled!)

This post is a bit disjointed. But from it the Colonel hopes that the themes of murder, hypocrisy, theft,

Un-rival.

terrorism, and treason shine brightly through.

We always especially love the drone about the holy city of this or that, or the holy shrine of the Grand Woofti of Possum Flats. That's for foreign consumption. But if the need arises to mount an armed attack on or in a mosque, well, it's just never a problem.

Finally, note that this gent is (1) a religious leader, a cleric, third highest possible rank in the Shia religious hierarchy, and (2) allied with, beholden to, or actively cooperating with the worst of the Iranians. Some religion.

Post screech (PS) -- The Iranians want nuclear weapons, did you hear? Sure. Let's suck our collective thumbs till that happens. Shirley, even we in our present significant yearning for a risk-free, compassionate, all-caring daddy government are not so stupid as to fail to make whatever sacrifice is necessary to make sure they never get them.