so the iraqi parliment moved to ban politicial organizations from operating a standing militia. The clerics to whom al-sadr appealed have asked him to maintain the mahdi army. obviously al-sadr wants to dominate the country, but is forcing him to set a group of 80,000 gunment loose really the best idea?

-Should the Iraqi government be offering the Mahdi army positions within the military/ government, or at least helping them find employment (public works, private sector, etc)?

-Should al-Sadr be welcomed into politics? Yes, he wants to control the country but I argue that there is a greater possibility to contain him solely within the political realm.

Thoughts?

Excellent and tough questions.

My initial reaction would be NO on being allowed to maintain a standing militia not under Full Govt Control, but having said that, I also understand that I am thinking like an American and not taking into account the tribalism factor. I still think its a bad idea. Still you bring up a valid point of turning them loose. I guess in my mind it would be easier to go against an unorganized militia than an organized one.

Again on the second question, a good one. If you assimilate them into the Govt, you stand a chance of keeping them in check OR you stand a chance of having important positions infiltrated by the enemy, whoever the heck that may be( in Iraq its hard to tell)

As for the political aspect of Al-Sadr, the first quote that comes to mind is, "hold your friends close and your enemies closer." It would be possible to put him in check in the political realm as you put it, however, you are now guilty of thinking like and American. Saddam started as a low level figure, and killed his way to the top. We dont think of killing our opposition as a viable way to run politics, they do.

No easy answer to any of this, unless you want to take option Z( option Z would be to infest Iraq and the Middle East with Zombies, then kill all the Zombies,because people dont care if you kill Zombies)

quote:

No easy answer to any of this, unless you want to take option Z( option Z would be to infest Iraq and the Middle East with Zombies, then kill all the Zombies,because people dont care if you kill Zombies)

You, sir, are a freaking genius.

quote:

Originally posted by king_voodoo:

quote:

No easy answer to any of this, unless you want to take option Z( option Z would be to infest Iraq and the Middle East with Zombies, then kill all the Zombies,because people dont care if you kill Zombies)

You, sir, are a freaking genius.

I much prefer the moniker "Idiot Savant"

quote:

You, sir, are a freaking genius.

Agreed wholeheartedly.

None of these fanatics should be allowed into politics, but we are talking about middle east. I wonder if Al-Sadr is Iragi or Irani. If he is Iragi what's he doing in Iran (talking to shie's)?

Al-Sadr is an Iraqi (with a q). His father was a famous Shiite cleric, persecuted (and killed I think) by Saddam.

Hitler took over the German Parliment with only 10% of the representatives.