SADR THREATENS "OPEN WAR UNTIL LIBERATION"

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001243 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL IZ IR SUBJECT: SADR THREATENS "OPEN WAR UNTIL LIBERATION" REF: A. BAGHDAD 1153 (SADR STATEMENT) ¶B. BAGHDAD 1027 (UIA-SADR NEGOTIATIONS IN IRAN) Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. Patricia A. Butenis for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S) Summary: Muqtada al-Sadr issued an April 19 internet statement in a continuing effort to rally and unify his followers in the face of a concerted GOI crackdown on the Jaysh al-Mehdi (JAM) militia. Heaping scorn on both the GOI and "American occupiers," Sadr repeatedly sounded the powerful and persuasive themes of Shia suffering, GOI ingratitude toward Sadrist goodwill, Iraqi nationalism, and resistance to foreign domination. He threatened "open war until liberation" unless the GOI desists from a campaign that Sadr likened to a Saddam-era atrocity. Sadr Spokesman Salah al-Ubaydi told MNF-I that the ongoing GOI crackdown violated an agreement Sadr struck with top Shia politicians late last month in Iran, complaining that Maliki had backed Sadr into a corner and placed him in a "lose-lose" position. He said the Sadrists deem further dialogue with Maliki as futile. Sadr's invocation of a famous Koranic verse that holds "he who is forced to act by necessity beyond his doing is free of guilt" leaves no doubt that if the GOI crackdown leads to all-out Shia civil war, the Sadrists will hold Maliki and his associated "militias" (read ISCI/Badr) fully responsible. End Summary. No Guilt for He Who is Forced By Necessity to Act -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) While Sadr's fierce April 12 statement downplayed any conflict with the GOI and focused exclusively on the Coalition (Ref A),his April 19 statement dished out copious quantities of vitriol to both the GOI and "the American occupiers." Sadr mocked what he claimed was an "occupier demand" that he not take a stand against the Iraqi Government by asserting that it was the Sadrists themselves who were responsible for creating the Maliki government. "Nevertheless, this government has been ungrateful to our good deeds and has become a third-party that turned Sadrists into targets and has forgotten not only are we brothers, we are part of themselves." Throwing out a string of rhetorical questions, Sadr asks to whom the GOI refers when it claims to act against outlaws: "Do you mean those detained by your forces and militias with the help of American occupiers, or those who sacrificed their lives to oust the occupiers from our land and your land? ... Have you forgotten the first and second intifadahs in Najaf (Note: 2004 battles between Sadrists and the Coalition) or would you rather have a third intifadah??!! ... Have the Sadrists sinned because they have a popular base and have not soiled themselves in your heinous politics and material conflicts?!!!!" (Note: We have retained punctuation as it appeared in Sadr's text). ¶3. (C) Sadr turns repeatedly to time-honored Shia rhetorical imagery of victimhood and suffering at the hands of an unjust tyrant. "Despite the Sadrist abundance of populist and jihadist good deeds, the government is fighting us, shedding our blood, and enslaving our women. By God, had it not been for the saying of Imam Hussein that 'death is better than shame and shame is better than the fire of hell' and the basic Islamic principle that no Muslim should kill another Muslim, we would have dealt with the government more decisively. Instead, we declared a temporary freeze on the Jaysh al-Mehdi and tried to diffuse crises and end all armed manifestations." Referring to the late-March negotiations in Iran between Sadr and representatives of the Shia United Iraqi Alliance (UIA)(Ref B),Sadr complains that "after negotiations and our concessions, the government has resorted to Saddam's policies that disrupted Friday prayers, displaced women and children, killed elders and youths alike, imposed divide-and-conquer policies, and carried out assassinations." A separate, hand-written April 20 statement continues this point, asserting that the GOI "with assistance of occupation forces" have killed and burned the bodies of Sadrists in Nasiriyah. He also denounced the Secretary's April 20 visit to Baghdad and asked the GOI to "prevent the entry of terrorist occupiers to our sacred land." ¶4. (C) Sadr also postured as an Iraqi ultra-nationalist. "Sadrists have not accepted the partition of Iraq, the theft of its wealth, or long-term agreements that would give the occupiers what they deny to the Iraqi people, and we will not accept the presence of permanent bases for the occupiers in our land. Since when has Islamic and national zeal become a sin? We repeatedly extended our hands to all of Iraq's Sunnis and Shia, and we prayed in Sunni and Shia mosques. Look what we got in return!!!!!! We have defended the minorities of Iraq, including Christians, Shabaks, Turkmen, Chaldeans, and others. We have reaped nothing except attacks upon our Prophet: the Pope visits the power that occupies our beloved Iraq but turns a blind eye to injustice inflicted BAGHDAD 00001243 002 OF 002 against the Iraqi people." He likened the plight of Palestinians to that of his followers: "Our beloved Gaza has been under siege and everyone is silent. Sadr City and Basrah are under siege and everyone is silent. Where have the human rights gone?" ¶5. (C) Citing a verse from the Koran that holds that "he who is forced to act by necessity beyond his doing is free of guilt," Sadr closed by threatening both the Coalition and the GOI. To the Coalition, Sadr warned that Iraqis will not abandon their "right" to engage in resistance and vowed to declare a "war of liberation." To the GOI, Sadr directed a "final warning to take the road of peace and renounce violence against its own people, otherwise it will become like the Saddam government, even if everyone has allied themselves with it; these people were once our allies and may again become our allies in the future because there is no heart in politics. If the Iraqi Government does not desist and curb the militias that have infiltrated it, we will declare an open war until liberation." Sadr's Spokesman: Maliki Boxed Us Into A Lose-Lose Position -------------- -------------- ¶6. (S) In a telephone conversation with MNF-I Force Strategic Engagement Cell (FSEC),Office of the Martyr Sadr spokesman Salah al Ubaydi said the thrust of Sadr's message was that PM Maliki has repudiated the agreement that UIA representatives Ali al-Adib, Hadi al-Amri and Qasim al-Sahlani had negotiated with Sadr late last month in Iran. As an example, he cited GOI failure to return IDPs to Karbala and Diwaniyah. Instead, he alleged that Iraqi Security Forces were continuing to target Sadrists in a number of locations, claiming they had decapitated 15 persons in Diwaniyah, executed five persons in Karbala, and assassinated Sadrist advisor Riyadh al-Nuri. Salah said it is clear to him and his colleagues that these operations are targeted specifically against the Sadrists, claiming that criminals ("oil and drug smugglers") from other factions -- particularly those linked to the GOI -- were not being hit. ¶7. (S) MNF-I made clear to Ubaydi that, even if this was their perspective, escalation to a widespread outbreak of violence would damage deeply the communities that the Sadrist movement claims to represent. Ubaydi acknowledged that such an escalation would indeed be "catastrophic," but said that Maliki had backed them into a corner and placed them in a "lose-lose" position. When asked if the Sadrists were in contact with Maliki or anyone else in the GOI, he replied that, in Sadr's view, recent GOI action against Sadrists and Maliki's failure to honor the UIA-Sadrist agreement rendered any further dialogue with Maliki futile. The starting point for any future talks must be the implementation of the agreement: that said, Ubaydi noted he had been trying to reach the three UIA negotiators, but they were not taking his calls. Ubaydi is the most senior Sadrist official with whom we have had direct communication. Comment -------------- ¶8. (C) Continued ISF/CF operations in Basrah as well as in Sadr City -- particularly the methodical walling-off and clearing of certain areas -- are obviously deeply troubling to Sadr and his movement. The April 19 statement is a powerful appeal to rally and unify his followers by exaggerating the persuasive themes of Shia underclass suffering, GOI ingratitude, Iraqi nationalism, and resistance to foreign domination. Sadr's invocation of the above-cited Koranic verse leaves no doubt that if the GOI crackdown leads to all-out Shia civil war, Sadrist spin will hold Maliki and his associated "militias" (read ISCI/Badr) fully responsible. BUTENIS