Seraphim
04-15-2004, 06:36 PM
MOSCOW (*******) - Iraqi rebel Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, in an interview published on Thursday, said he was prepared for indirect talks with the U.S.-led occupation force and vowed to press demands for foreign troops to leave.
"We are ready to hold talks with the occupying regime, but have no intention of dropping the demands we have placed before it," Sadr told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency on Thursday in Iraq (news - web sites)'s Shi'ite shrine city of Najaf.
"First and foremost, this means our demands for a pullout from all regions of Iraq and an end to the aggression against the Iraqi people."
He told RIA he would take no part in any negotiations "with murderers of Iraqis" and ruled out direct contacts.
"No and no yet again to direct negotiations with the Americans. Our main conditions remain a halt to the aggression against the Iraqi people in all parts of the country and a ban on their troops entering the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala."
Sadr said on Wednesday he had dropped conditions for entering negotiations with Washington, but it was unclear whether the conditions he mentioned in the RIA interview, conducted on Thursday, were for entering talks or ending his uprising.
With Washington pledging to kill or capture Sadr after his militia launched an uprising, U.S. troops are now poised around Najaf.
America's top general said talks were under way to avoid a bloodbath in Najaf and bring peace to the besieged Sunni city of Falluja. An Iranian delegation has been in Iraq to help mediate between U.S.-led authorities and Sadr.
A Sadr spokesman in Najaf on Wednesday said for a time the cleric had dropped conditions for entering into negotiations with U.S. authorities. But the cleric's foes say his position fluctuates and he lacks credibility.
In his comments to RIA, Sadr vowed to counter any U.S. attempt to prevent the introduction of Islamic Sharia law.
"The only thing I ask of it (the Iraqi people) is that if the Americans manage to kill me, do not give up the fight for independence, freedom and further dissemination of the teachings of Islam," he was quoted as saying.
His vision of a future Iraq was a state "where there must be no distinctions between people -- Shi'ites, Sunnis and Christians. But in any event, the state must be grounded on the principles of Sharia."
Washington, he said, had no intention of leaving Iraqi despite pledges to hand power to a local authority by June 30.
"American troops did not come all this way merely to free Iraqis from Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)," he told RIA.
"What they have really come for is linked to a drive to end Iraqis' Islamic values and traditions, oversee the total might of Israel in the region and win control of Iraqi oil."
The U.S. administration had therefore "selected in advance Iraqis useful to their policy who will jealously defend their interests in the country."
A federal state was to be rejected as leading to division.
"The fate of a destroyed, shattered Palestine is a clear example of what could happen in Iraq at the behest of those who call themselves Iraqis but in reality only care about their own selfish interests," he was quoted as saying.
"We are ready to hold talks with the occupying regime, but have no intention of dropping the demands we have placed before it," Sadr told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency on Thursday in Iraq (news - web sites)'s Shi'ite shrine city of Najaf.
"First and foremost, this means our demands for a pullout from all regions of Iraq and an end to the aggression against the Iraqi people."
He told RIA he would take no part in any negotiations "with murderers of Iraqis" and ruled out direct contacts.
"No and no yet again to direct negotiations with the Americans. Our main conditions remain a halt to the aggression against the Iraqi people in all parts of the country and a ban on their troops entering the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala."
Sadr said on Wednesday he had dropped conditions for entering negotiations with Washington, but it was unclear whether the conditions he mentioned in the RIA interview, conducted on Thursday, were for entering talks or ending his uprising.
With Washington pledging to kill or capture Sadr after his militia launched an uprising, U.S. troops are now poised around Najaf.
America's top general said talks were under way to avoid a bloodbath in Najaf and bring peace to the besieged Sunni city of Falluja. An Iranian delegation has been in Iraq to help mediate between U.S.-led authorities and Sadr.
A Sadr spokesman in Najaf on Wednesday said for a time the cleric had dropped conditions for entering into negotiations with U.S. authorities. But the cleric's foes say his position fluctuates and he lacks credibility.
In his comments to RIA, Sadr vowed to counter any U.S. attempt to prevent the introduction of Islamic Sharia law.
"The only thing I ask of it (the Iraqi people) is that if the Americans manage to kill me, do not give up the fight for independence, freedom and further dissemination of the teachings of Islam," he was quoted as saying.
His vision of a future Iraq was a state "where there must be no distinctions between people -- Shi'ites, Sunnis and Christians. But in any event, the state must be grounded on the principles of Sharia."
Washington, he said, had no intention of leaving Iraqi despite pledges to hand power to a local authority by June 30.
"American troops did not come all this way merely to free Iraqis from Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)," he told RIA.
"What they have really come for is linked to a drive to end Iraqis' Islamic values and traditions, oversee the total might of Israel in the region and win control of Iraqi oil."
The U.S. administration had therefore "selected in advance Iraqis useful to their policy who will jealously defend their interests in the country."
A federal state was to be rejected as leading to division.
"The fate of a destroyed, shattered Palestine is a clear example of what could happen in Iraq at the behest of those who call themselves Iraqis but in reality only care about their own selfish interests," he was quoted as saying.