REPORT: SADR SURRENDERS

The rad­i­cal cleric Muqtada al-​​Sadr, who’s mili­tia has clashed so vio­lently with Coalition forces, has accepted a deal to sur­ren­der, Juan Cole says, pass­ing on an ara­bic news­pa­per report.
“It would pro­vide for the senior aya­tol­lahs to issue a rul­ing or fatwa dis­solv­ing the Army of the Mahdi, Muqtada’s mili­tia. Muqtada [would] sur­ren­der to the grand aya­tol­lahs and agree to have [top reli­gious lead­ers] nego­ti­ate for him with the Americans,” Cole writes. “Muqtada would accept the out­come of those nego­ti­a­tions with­out con­di­tion. Iran would offer him tem­po­rary asy­lum, until June 30 and the for­ma­tion of a sov­er­eign Iraqi gov­ern­ment, at which time he could report to Najaf for his trial. In return, the US would with­draw its forces from the envi­rons of Najaf.“
The New York Times reports that a group of Iranian diplo­mats has been doing the nego­ti­at­ing. And that their work is not done yet. Stay tuned.

April 15th, 2004 | War Update | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.