Barzani: whistling in the dark?
What do you think the odds are that Al-Sadr will do what Barzani says? From UPI, with thanks to Jack Mackie:
BAGHDAD, April 7 (UPI) — The leader of the Iraqi Governing Council, Massud Barzani, Wednesday advised rebellious Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr to surrender to justice.
“If he is innocent he can go back home,” Barzani said at a news conference in Baghdad.
An arrest warrant was issued by the coalition authority against Sadr on charges of involvement in last year’s assassination of Shiite religious authority Abdel Majid al-Khoei in the holy city of Najaf.
Barzani, who leads the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said “no one should be permitted to stand above the law and criminals who attack state properties should be prosecuted.”
“The law should be implemented and justice should prevail,” Barzani said, stressing that he supports “decisive action against all the violators of the law.”
Sadr’s followers have been fighting against coalition troops for the past few days in several parts of Iraq, including Baghdad. The battles claimed the lives of dozens of Iraqis and at least a dozen coalition troops.