Sadr supports surge

"Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his top deputies to leave Iraq in order to ease the implementation of the Baghdad security plan, which U.S. and Iraqi forces began to roll out this week.
. . . During a news conference Thursday night, Talabani said Sadr told government officials that he was 'eager for the stability of the state and the success of the security plan. He gave the government the green light to detain any outlaws.'
In Washington on Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he believed that Sadr's followers were concerned about the new operation to secure Baghdad and suggested that Sadr and his militia would 'go to ground' over the coming months. 'And the question is, during that space . . . can we and the Iraqis provide enough security so that economic development, improvements in governance, political reconciliation can all begin to make real progress in Iraq?' Gates said."

source
Londono, Ernesto. (The Washington Post). Leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq Injured in Clash, Official Says. February 16, 2007.

posted: sunday, february 18, 2007, 11:53 PM ET

tags: iraq sadr war