Sadr Afraid

The Guardian reports that Moqtada al Sadr is afraid he is a target in the crackdown in Baghdad. He has accordingly moved his family to an undisclosed location and will undoubtedly follow in short order. He'll rabbit, he won't stand with the fools he has conned into following him.

Moqtada al-Sadr has moved his family to a secure location because of fears he will become the target of a security sweep of Baghdad, it was reported today.

News of the radical cleric's decision came as the US military said it had detained a suspected death squad leader.

Aides to Mr Sadr described the arrest of the man, named as Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, as a "provocation", saying he was a spokesman for their movement.

"We are angry," Abdul-Mehdi al-Matiri told Reuters. "This is a kind of revenge. Sheikh Darraji deals with the media. He is not a military man."

A US military statement said the man had been arrested by Iraqi special forces, backed by US advisers, on suspicion of kidnap, torture and murder.

One of Washington's prime concerns is how to cope with the Mahdi Army – loyal to Mr Sadr – and other Shia militia carrying out murders in Sunni communities in the Iraqi capital and elsewhere……

…..In an interview with Mr Sadr, published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica today, the cleric said 400 of his men had already been arrested.

"For this reason, I have moved my family to a secure location. I even have had a will drawn up, and I move continuously in a way that only few can know where I am," he was quoted as saying.

"But even if I were to die, Mahdi would continue to exist. Men can be killed. Faith and ideas cannot," he said.

Mr Sadr said his men would not fight during the Islamic month of Muharram, which marks the death of Muhammad's grandson Hussein, but that afterwards "we'll see".

Odds on, he'll be in Tehran in a week or two, cheerfully exhorting his followers to fight to the last drop of their blood.