Muqtada al-Sadr’s personal army has agreed to ceasefire terms that are, in effect, a capitulation.
• The Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army would observe a four-day cease-fire.
• At the end of the cease-fire, Iraqi forces would be allowed to enter Sadr City and conduct arrests if warrants have been issued, or if the Mahdi Army is in possession of medium or heavy weapons (rocket-propelled grenades, rockets, mortars).
• The Mahdi Army and the Sadrist bloc must recognize the Iraqi government has control over the security situation and has the authority to move security forces to impose the law.
• The Mahdi Army would end all attacks, including mortar and rockets strikes against the International Zone.
• The Mahdi Army must clear Sadr City of roadside bombs.
• The Mahdi Army must close all “illegal courthouses.”
• The Iraqi government would reopen the entrances to Sadr City.
• The Iraqi government would provide humanitarian aid to the residents of Sadr City.
What remains to be seen is how seriously the rest of us can take this new agreement. When I lived in the Green Zone I heard from various sources that the majority of rockets and mortars which rained down on us frequently had been fired from within the bowels of Sadr City.
The cleric himself should long ago have been disinvited from the the political table with a bullet to the cranium. While I am hesitant to condone outright assassination I always thought Saddam Hussein deserved it, and I think Muqtada al-Sadr is cut from the same cloth. He murders his opponents and anyone who opposes his political power. Anytime a political leader uses murder to maintain his or her hold on power, they should receive a dose of their own medicine.
This cleric has done everything in his power to ensure that Sunnis cannot sit at the political table of Iraq. He foments rebellion even when it is not in the national interest or the interest of the residents of Baghdad. He deserves to go to hell.