posted on Apr, 14 2004 @ 01:55 PM
news.bbc.co.uk...
Well it seems that the American show of force has done some sort of job on Sadr. From insisting that they leave the country and that his forces would
fight it out to the death, he's now backing down, disarming his militia and turning them into a "political force".
Sadr has even offered to turn himself in for a murder trial to a later Iraqi governement.
I can only see him losing face through this one.
It seems to me that Sadr gained none of his objectives (mainly pursuit of power) and has only wasted the lives of his followers and the innocent
civilians caught in the crossfire.
The damage has been done to the US with the growth of hatred against the coalition for their actions during this rebellion so it's probably a sort of
hollow victory. From what I've read, Iran had a lot to do with this climb down as well.
The question is - will the US let him back down with what little dignity he is trying to save or will they insist on capturing or killing him?