"Swords Into Plowshares For The Mahdi Army?"

Anti-U.S. Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr ordered most of his militiamen Friday to lay down their arms, and his spokesman said the young cleric might call off all resistance if the Americans accept a timetable to leave Iraq.

The order from al-Sadr, who mounted two uprisings against U.S.-led forces in 2004, was read to his followers during weekly Friday prayers in Shiite mosques across the country. He instructed his Mahdi Army militiamen to join religious and social welfare classes as part of a new organization — the "Momahidoun," or "those who pave the way."

Posters announcing the Momahidoun have appeared on walls in Sadr City, the cleric's Baghdad base and home to an estimated 2.5 million Shiites.

"It is an ideological, cultural, religious and social army that will be charged with carrying out an intellectual and scientific holy war and to free the minds, hearts and souls from the secularist Western onslaught and is absolutely prohibited from the use of arms," the posters say.

Al-Sadr has been moving toward a primarily political role for his militia since August 2007, when he declared a unilateral cease-fire.

His militia suffered major setbacks in fighting last spring in Sadr City and the southern city of Basra. Cease-fire agreements left the Iraqi army in control of former militia strongholds.

But al-Sadr retains strong support among impoverished Shiites in southern Iraq, and may have concluded that his interests are better served in politics than in armed struggle.

Last June he announced that the Mahdi Army would be transformed into a social welfare movement except for secret special cells that would carry out "resistance" against the Americans and other foreign troops.

But his chief spokesman and a senior Mahdi Army commander both told The Associated Press on Friday that al-Sadr would be willing to stop fighting entirely if the Americans accept a timetable to remove their forces.

"The cells of fighters will stay ready to operate," said Salah al-Obeidi, al-Sadr's chief spokesman. "They will wait and see what is in the security agreement."

For months, U.S. and Iraqi officials have been negotiating security agreements to replace a U.N. mandate that expires at the end of the year. The two sides missed a July 31 target date because of differences over several issues, chief among them immunity for U.S. soldiers.

Two Iraqi officials said Thursday that the Americans had agreed to remove all U.S. troops from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009 and withdraw combat units by October 2010. All American troops would be gone around 2013, the Iraqis said on condition of anonymity because the talks are ongoing.

But U.S. officials in Washington insisted that no firm dates have been agreed.

      Muqtada al-Sadr's call for his Mahdi Army Shite militia to lay down their armed resistance contingent upon a US timetable for withdrawal is indeed welcome news from the "War In Iraq". It seems as if both al-Sadr and Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki are using Democratic party nominee Barack Obama's proposal for a phased sixteen month withdrawal from Iraq to pressure the Bush Administration into finally setting a timetable for withdrawal. The Iraqi have no interest in a long term South Korean like military presence in their country, something the neoconservative influenced Bush Administration and GOP nominee John McCain seems to desire. Swords into plowshares for the Mahdi Army? Hallelujah!

tags: iraq  mahdi army  muqtada al sadr  barack obama  john mccain  war  warpeace  middle east  

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