On March 20, 2003, the U.S.-led Western coalition airstrike on Baghdad, and the Iraq War officially began. For more than a month, Saddam Hussein ran away, Iraqi government forces abandoned resistance, and coalition forces easily took the capital Baghdad.
Three years later, a pro-American Iraqi regime was prophesied up. The regime adopted a new political system, modeled on Western representative and federal systems.
Within this framework, Iraq has changed from its former presidential system to a parliamentary system. From the sunni family in the past, it has become the three forces of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish to share the power of the country.
However, the formation of the new government did not lift the country out of the whirlpool of turmoil.
April 2013 was supposed to be a celebratory year, the 10th anniversary of Saddam's fall. But more than 700 civilians died as a result of sectarian clashes in the month, the darkest month in five years.
In 2003, the Americans achieved their military goals, but in the decade that followed, 170,000 Iraqis died in the chaos, showing that the "new Iraq" was completely different from the original vision.
In this era of stagnant deer, a man named Mukhtada Sadr carried the anti-American banner that had fallen from Saddam Hussein, formed a militia, and continued along the route of armed struggle.
At first, he fought a few battles that made the Americans suffer, but in the end they failed, and Sadr and his followers had to find another way.
Fifteen years later, the Iraqi National Assembly announced the results of the elections, and a multi-party coalition called the Walkers Alliance broke through and won the election.
The leader of this group is none other than Mukhtada Sadr.
The American exclaimed: Sadr is back!
So, what kind of character is Sadr? As an anti-American vanguard, why did the DPRK rise up in pro-American Iraq and eventually shift from armed struggle to parliamentary struggle?
What has Sadr experienced in these fifteen years?
I. The Burning Counterattack of Sadr City: The Mahdi Army
Iraq is a traditionalLy Muslim country, with less than three percent of the country's non-Muslim groups, such as Zoroastrians and Christians. Ninety-seven percent of Muslims can be divided into 65 percent Shia and 35 percent Sunnis.
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is Sunni, while Sadder is Shia.
Sadr's father, Ayatollah, was a charismatic Shiite leader after whom Sadr City was named.
During Saddam's reign, the Shiites were suppressed. In 1999, sadder the elder was assassinated for opposing Saddam Hussein, and other Shiite figures fled to Countries such as Iran out of fear of Saddam Hussein.
The al-Sadr affair was so famous in Iraq that when the Americans came in in 2003, most Iraqis chose not resistance but neutrality.
At that time, the most influential Shiite leader in Iraq was Ayatollah Sistani the Great, who even called on his disciples not to help the Yankees, not to stop them, and to watch Saddam Hussein perish.
Sadr, however, is at odds with other Shiites.
After his father was killed, he did not flee Iraq, but remained on the streets of the country to continue growing. He did not have the nobility of the exiles, but appeared in front of the masses in the image of a full tongue of dialect, standing with the low-level commoners.
In July 2003, iraq was in turmoil, and Sadr did not sit back and make the most of it as the elites did, making compromises with the Americans to form a new government. Instead, they set up another hill, armed their followers, and formed the Mahdi militia to resist the American invasion.
He believes that although he and the Sunni Saddam Hussein have an unforeseen vendetta against his father, the most important thing at the moment is the hatred of destroying the country without sharing the heavens.
Big battles trump small battles, so he called on Iraqis to prioritize national identity, put aside the two factions, fight the Americans together, and keep their distance from the same Iranians who share the same lineage but harbor ghostly hearts.
In 2004, the Mahdi Army, a group of shiite underclass, launched a counterattack against the U.S. military, with 3,000 soldiers and horses seizing the city of Sadr and the southern capitals of Iraq, and including the mosques of al-Quds Al-Najaf and Karbala.
The American-trained Iraqi national security forces collapsed in front of the Mahdi army, and the U.S. military had to go down in person. President George W. Bush has even said that he will get Sadr out at all costs.
However, Bush Jr. was immediately punched in the face by Sadr and the Mahdi Army.
In 2003, U.S. Delta Special Forces were ambushed in Sadr City, suffering heavy losses and forced to withdraw.
In 2004, the U.S. military concentrated its firepower to capture the city of Najaf.
In 2006, Sadr was named globally's most dangerous man by Newsweek of the Year.
Second, the century-making brutality! The Shiites are in a fierce infighting between the bottom and the top
In the years leading up to the Iraq War, Sadr was fighting thousands of miles on the front lines, but the Iraqi puppet army was in a thousand miles.
Given the weakness of Transitional Government Prime Minister Ja'afari in the conflict, the Americans ousted him in favor of hardline Nuri Maliki.
Both were economically regal Shiite "elite" figures.
With the help of the United States, Nuri Maliki tightened his grip on the army, personally hand-picked senior generals, and ordered the most elite special forces to be directly assigned to him.
In 2007, under the military pressure of the Mahdi Army, the British army was forced to withdraw from the southern stronghold of Basra, which Sadr took over.
You know, most of iraq's oil exports have to go through Basra, and whoever controls Basra is equivalent to holding seventy percent of Iraq's annual financial resources.
But up to this point, Maliki has been busy cleaning up al-Qaida remnants and Sunni militias since taking office, and has not yet fought with the same Shiite militias.
At this time, Sadr suddenly sent a challenge: Do you dare to fight a different basra war with me?
Sadr said: "I had to use the Mahdi army because the government forgot their responsibilities and he should care about the Iraqi people." Instead of increasing attacks, hunts, wars, conflicts against the people! ”
Sadr had thought that this would scare Maliki, who should be hiding in Baghdad and not dare to come to Sadr.
But just then, the television station suddenly broadcast an urgent news: Maliki declared the Mahdi army a traitor and wanted to send them to the sky one by one.
On this day, Maliki received General Petraeus, supreme commander of the Western Coalition Forces, and informed him that he would personally lead the security forces to Basra.
The general thought Maliki was crazy and quickly reminded him: "At least six months of meticulous deployment will take before attacking Basra." Soldiers, jiangshan sheji events, the way of survival, must not fail to observe! Your Excellency, Prime Minister, please be careful. ”
Maliki responded firmly: "Thank you for the kindness of the United States, but I will go, and you will stay in Baghdad and do not move." I don't need anything but airlifts. ”
Knowing that Maliki was going to march on the throne, Sadr immediately warned him to go back immediately. But Maliki's men had already arrived under Basra, and a civil war between the Shiite bottom and the top inevitably broke out.
In the first round, Sadr had the upper hand and quickly repelled Iraqi security forces with his experienced street fighting experience.
Mahdi's military attacked Maliki's hiding place with RPGs and mortars, encircling it.
Meanwhile, General Petraeus and the U.S. ambassador anxiously huddled in their offices to call Maliki: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, now that the tide is gone, the wisest thing to do is to flee for your lives before you lose all your troops." ”
After all, the Iraqi puppet army was raised by the Americans with a handful of and a handful of urine, and if it was inexplicably destroyed by the Mahdi army, wouldn't the efforts that have been made all the time be great?
On the other end of the phone, the stunned Blue Maliki uttered a startling voice: "Allah... Akbar, don't go home without taking Basra. They thought I was surrounded, but it was actually my strategic plan! ”
Seeing that Maliki was dying and still so stiff-mouthed, the general decided to go back to the White House to see George W. Bush.
The general was struggling to clean up the mess for a man who acted so recklessly, but George W. Bush said, "General, you will take someone to Basra now." Your mission is not to get him out, but to bring enough men and horses to make sure he wins sadle! ”
Third, the great battle is defeated! The final day of the Mahdi Army!
At the behest of the president, F18 fighter jets, Apache helicopter gunships, and drones came into action. Using ancestral play, the U.S. military launched a fierce attack on the Mahdi army.
A fixed-point bombing hit Sadr and did not dare to fight back, and the blow to him was greater than the assassination of his father.
Maliki, who had been besieged for many days, welcomed his American father, took control of Basra with foreign aid, and issued an ultimatum to Sadr as a king:
Little brother, now give you one or the other, either give up the militia or give up your political career and keep you from running for life.
Sadr thought to himself, what good thing is there? Just because I used to cause trouble for the imperial court every day, can I still be allowed to run?
On March 31, 2008, Sadr ordered that the Mahdi army should be barred from carrying guns into the streets, that they should not attack government officials or kill civilians, and that violators would be expelled from the church.
Sadr explained that I ordered my subordinates in this way, not because I had lost, but for the unity of Iraq... For the sake of the big picture, Maliki can deal with this person!
Maliki also gave Sadr a step down, saying: "I am not trying to target any political force, but mainly to crack down on the criminal gangs that are rampant in Basra."
Soon after, Sadr announced a permanent ceasefire, and the Mahdi Army was disbanded. It is reported that the conflict caused a total of 300 deaths, and most of the government troops lost on Maliki's side were Sunni.
Since then, Sadr has changed to parliamentary line and formed the Peace Defenders Regiment. He created a persona for great goodness, and constantly increased his popularity among the people, with the intention of relying on elections.
Fourth, when Maliki stepped down! Sadr's Day of Rise!
Maliki is also not a good stubble, and immediately suppresses political opponents after the big seat is secured.
He disqualified candidates everywhere on the grounds that he had served the former government. When the road encountered protesters, they were bloodily suppressed and charged with terrorists.
For a time, the power fell to the opposition, and no one dared to provoke.
Sadr looked at it, this cargo is simply Saddam's second ah, in case one day repeating the mistakes of his father and being assassinated? I still have to hurry up.
So, at the end of 2008, Sadr went into exile in Iran in the name of studying religion.
In 2011, Mr. Obama said he would completely withdraw U.S. conventional forces from Iraq by the end of the year, leaving only some Air Force instructors and intelligence personnel.
Soon, at the end of the three-year period, seeing that Maliki's patron was gone, Sadr returned like lightning.
In the square, Sadr said to his followers: "I have not forgotten the occupiers, we are still resisters!" ”
As a result, sadder stole the limelight as soon as he returned home, making it seem as if the Americans had been forced away by him. He calculated that the Yankees must go, so he said again:
"The Mahdi Army is now frozen if the Americans don't go. Then we will return to the throne of the God of War and rise again in place! ”
2014 was a turbulent year for Iraq. This year, the terrorist organization ISIS rose to prominence and quickly swept through the northern provinces. The Iraqi security forces that went to the battle were defeated and retreated, known in history as the "Civil War in Northern Iraq".
The two factions in China and all walks of life in the West generally believe that the reason why the Iraqi national army has behaved so badly is inseparable from Maliki's corrupt governance over the years.
Without the support of the United States, Maliki could only resign and mingzhe saved himself.
Sadr's chance came.
In the same year, Sadr formed a political group that crossed religious denominations, the Walkers' Union. He put an end to corruption politically, cared for the people at the bottom in terms of people's livelihood, and supported the government in fighting terrorists militarily.
Under the beautiful vision of fighting for state power abroad and punishing the murderers at home, the group once won the support of most Iraqis.
On May 17, 2018, the Iraqi National Assembly elections were held. The Walkers' Union defeated the Fatah coalition and the victorious coalition led by current Prime Minister Abani to become a parliamentary majority group.
Under the Iraqi Constitution, a parliamentary majority group has the power to nominate a prime minister. But Sadr said he would not be prime minister and that he himself was not running for parliament.
He believes that religion cannot dominate the country, so he does not approve of following the Iranian model.
As for Sadr's victory, it remains to be seen whether Iraq can work on the right path of reform and prosperity.
Text/Ga baby
Resources:
1. Sadr: The Tyrant of Chaos, Wang Suolao
2. "Ending the Iraq War: Two Different Solutions," Emanuel. Wallerstein; Road Patriotic