Al-Sadr: Assad Must Stay

Iraqi fundamentalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has again made foolish statements that are not surprising. Al-Sadr, the former head of the Mahdi Army (Jaish al-Mahdi) in Iraq, was a major obstacle in the path of a modern Iraq. He led an uprising in 2004 against American forces and battled the Iraqi government in 2008 across the southern half of the country.

Now, he's backing Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist counterpart in Syria, Bashar al-Assad. Assad appears to be running out of options, with the Arab League preparing sanctions and even Iran meeting with the opposition.

Likely parroting Iran's official line, al-Sadr seemed to have no problem with the dictator slaughtering thousands of civilians:

"One of the reasons behind this difference is that Bashar al-Assad is against the American and Israeli presence and his attitudes are clear, not like those who collapsed before him, or will collapse," said the statement released by his office in the city of Najaf, reiterating points Sadr made in August.

"Some of your lands are still occupied," Sadr said, referring to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which the Jewish state seized from Syria in 1967.

Hopefully Assad and al-Sadr will be out of the picture soon.



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