Will Muqtada al-Sadr end the cease-fire?
January 29th, 2008, 6:15 pm · Post a Comment · posted by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writer
From Alan Bock
Even as President Bush was touting the improved security situation in Iraq and attributing it to the “surge,” factions in anti-U.S. Shia cleric Muqrada al-Sadr’s grouping in Iraq have been urging al-Sadr to end the cease-fire begun six months ago and (generally) adhered to except by rogue factions of the not-always-orderly Mahdi army. The surge no doubt played a role in the improved stabililty in Iraq, as did the decision by Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province to turn against al-Qaida (a perhaps tenuous decision unless relations with the Shia-dominated central government improve). But the cease-fire decreed by al-Sadr also played an important role. If he decides to end the cease-fire, things could get dicey and much more violent in Iraq rather quickly.
