Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Al-Sadr reiterates calls for foreign troops to leave
Politics, Security
(VOI) The Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr reiterated on Tuesday calls for ending the presence of foreign armed forces in Iraq, underlining that the new security plan would not succeed. Al-Sadr said in a statement "the security crackdown now in place would not work because U.S. forces were involved." He hailed what he branded "noble resistance", adding that "it has led to the withdrawal of British and Danish forces from Iraq."
The outspoken Shiite leader called, in a statement on Tuesday received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), for "pulling back foreign troops according to a timetable". U.S. and Iraqi officials had announced that the Shiite leader left Iraq to Iran, however figures in Sadr movement denied these reports, underlining that he was in Najaf. Al-Sadr in his statement also addressed Iraqi security forces saying "you are able to protect Iraq without any help of any occupier. I'm certain that no security plan will work and no good will come of any occupier," al-Sadr said in the statement. The Shiite cleric urged Iraqi forces to "make your own Iraqi plans independent".
Labels: foreign troop withdrawal, Moqtada Al-Sadr
