I can’t help thinking that US foreign policy factionalism is playing a role in recent flip-flops over US policy toward Sadr.
As Swopa was quick to note, the US moved against a key Sadr aide yesterday. An “eruption” seemed plausible.
Well, somebody seems to have thought better of that idea.
Today, Muwaffaq Al Rubaie–Iraq’s national security advisor and a figure with “close ties” to some in the US–announced that Prime Minister Maliki had “ordered” the US to release the Sadrist figure, Sheikh Mazen Al Saedi. According to one news report, Saedi has, in fact, been released.
Questions of the day:
Who was behind the move to clash with Sadr?
Who was behind the decision to retreat from the brink?
Not easy questions, especially since “everybody hates Sadr.”
Good post. I suspect one thing could be that the guys in Washington were behind the attack and the guys in Iraq including the Iraqi government thought that they were crazy to take on one of the more powerful people in Iraq in the current situation. That’s an assessment that doesn’t understand the dynamics but it would seem to be a pretty fair one unless there is inside info on this.