Moqtada al-Sadr says he has been the target of US assassination attempts -- and he's not alone in that belief. That's why, he says, he went underground for a while.
"The Americans are occupiers and thieves, and they must set a timetable to leave this country. We must know that they are leaving, and we must know when." He has reason to be wary of US offers to negotiate. As revealed by The Independent last month, respected Iraqi political figures believe the US army tried to kill or capture Mr Sadr after luring him to peace talks in Najaf in 2004.
Lots of Americans will nonetheless be thinking, "Too bad we didn't get him!" But that's because we are creatures of the US media. Moqtada is young, rash, anti-democratic (as compared to our administration, etc.), and refuses to recognize that we know better than he does what's good for Iraq.
He objects to Iran and the US getting together to decide Iraq's fate. Probably much the way America would feel if Mexico and China did that to us after a Chinese invasion.
This is not a good guy. But then we're familiar with the philosophy that being a good guy doesn't get you what you want. If we forget, we can always ask Bush or Cheney.
