Sadrists urging a common front with the government, against the coming US assault on the Mahdi Army

Al-Hayat says the Sadrist movement is urging the Maliki government to cooperate with it in getting ready for what it expects will be the next US military operation, namely an expected "attempt to draw the Mahdi Army into an armed confrontation, on the thin pretext of revenge for their losses suffered in the 2004 uprisings." The journalist quotes Sadrist leader Abdulamir abu Sara, to the effect "the only way to help stop or hinder these (American) plans is to accelerate the takeover of the security function (by the government from the Americans)" Abu Sara went on:

Our current efforts are directed to containment of the artificial crises that are continually being concocted by the occupation forces, and their continued killing and arrest of leaders and other important people in the (Sadrist) movement, while going about our peaceful activities in two main areas: The first is strengthening the government and supporting it in its nationalist endeavors. And the second is repairing the sectarian gulf between sectors of the Iraqi people, by finding civil (civilian) activities that Sunnis and Shiites can both rally around.

The journalist then quotes a member of parliament from the Fadhila party (close to the Sadrists), who said:

The government should reject those plans that risk blowing up the political process entirely.

And the Fadhila person added that "from now on, security operations should be geared to the decisions and views of the government, since it is closest to the field, and best able to identify and define solutions."

By way of background, so to speak, the Fadhila person launches into a lengthy description of the "two types of militias", the good kind, which are originally self-defence groups, and which have developed into organizations also for the defence of Iraqi infrastructure from the Americans; and the bad kind, whose direct aim is primarily to grab control of the political process, via sectarian means, and some of whose activities he describes as proxy wars to settle accounts with the Americans and the British.

Finally, the journalist quotes remarks attributed to a senior Shiite authority in a statement to the press following the execution of Saddam. This official said:

There are going to be limited and defined operations (by the Americans) against the leadership of the Mahdi Army, and there are going to be a lot of surprises on the ground.

He said he expects part of these operations to start the fifth of this month (that would be tomorrow, Friday January 5).