Foreign Correspondence

[otraque]

i have to stress ,Sadr is feircely anti-Baathist, and strongly pro non-Baathist, non-secular Sunni.
I stress Sadr has Baathist on his hit list.
We can NOT now simply say pro-sunni , anti-sunni.
Precise identities are important.
Those captured were hardcore ex-soldiers of Saddam's army.
Sadr hit list is Al-Queda, Baathist(specifically those of the military).
Sadr in the past has openly printed out and posted his hit list. (It was for Hardcore Baathist, AlQueda(specifically Zarqawi) and, in general, any foreign wannabes.)

U.S. would like nothing better than classifySadr as an international terrorist but Sadr is on record, "his concern is Iraq, and only Iraq"---his dealings with Iran do not include turning Iraq into a part of Iran, he is very nationalistic)

i can't say this was necessrily Hakim, because the Sunnis captured here were in the specific hitlist of Sadr also.

But yes, it would be more likely Hakim now, YES, as for the mo, Sadr is wanting not to do anything to "freak the Sunni"---but Sadr vision for Iraq whas no place fo Baathist nor Allawist that would oppose a Sectarian Government.

This could have been Sadr or Hakim, but one it surely wasn't is the U.S., in this case.

One need know Sadr's specific vision for Iraq, and that vision ecludes Hardcore Baathist and Al Queda.
Hakim(the man closest to Sistani) and Sadr are the two most powerful men now in Iraq.
Sadr is a nationalist, Hakim is not.Sadr, also, would oppose Kurds claims on Kirkuk--i think Sadr would support Turkey against any separtist move)
But Sadr's nationalism has no place for hardcore Baathist---his father and grandfather(Both Grand Ayatollahs) were killed by the Baathist).
I need go back and dig up my rant attacking the SCIRI(in 2003) and predicting their outright BIGOTRY to the uneducated rough slum hoards of dirt poor Shi'ites in and around Baghdad was and saying it was a a great danger to Shi'ite unity.
The SCIRI fear of Sadr is the result of their OWN, "O those Baghdad riff-raff"( this is why it was a rant, i was furious when i picked up on this entrenched classicism within the Shi'ite world, i was also mad that prople like Juan Cole and Dreyfuss at that time were talking of "riff-raff' that Sadr, this thug, represented--Cole has grown much wiser)
This is when i said one need understand the over 2million populace of Sadr City, one need think of Algiers.

SCIRI view of Sadr's people, is like middle class New Yorkers view of people thst live in Trailer Parks.
i , mtself, am disgusted by people that think that way.
And that is how the Najaf snobs think regards those that follow Sadr.
This is is why Sadr commands so much loyalty.
He has the devotion for him because he cares about them, SCIRI didn't.

Regards SECTARIAN Sunnis, they will simply state Sadr isthe only Shi'ite they cold ever trust.