Just came to think about Muqtada al-Sadr, whom the resident terrorist cheerleaders placed so many hopes in a few months ago. If you go by the elections, their bellicose claims as to his support among the Iraqise have - like so much else - been shown to be meaningless blather.

His list received less than 70.000 votes, which evens out to a whopping 0,87% of the votes.

So so much for the "popular resistance leader" Sadr.

Henrik

For liberation, please apply at your local Danish embassy.

that's in part linked to the fact that Mr Sadr's decision to participate in the elections came quite late, while his position on the matter had changed frequently, leaving his movement less time to organize, and his supporters less time to mobilize, etc. then, lots of Sadrist supporters voted for the main Shia list, because the latter's program, in its broad lines, is basically similar to that of the Sadrists (ie, reduce the cultural / military / political influence of the US in Iraq, consider the withdrawal of occupation troops, and anchor the Islamic and Moslem (ie, non-secular) caracter of the Iraqi society and institutions in the country's constitution, maintain normal & friendly relations with Iran, etc). also, the victory of Shia religious parties is similar to a success for Iran over the USA neocons (whose favorite candidate was Allawi, who faired very weakly at the election).

Sadr and his followers served their purpose for the Shia and made sure the US knows that first and foremost, the majority Shia in Iraq have to be reapected or they will pick up guns and fight. Once US showed appropriate respect to the Shia majority, there was no more need to fight. The Shia will be the dominant political and social power in Iraq.

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The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.
-- President George W. Bush, September 13, 2001.
I don't know where he [Osama] is and I really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority.
-- President George W. Bush, May 13, 2002.
http://www.slonet.org/~rloomis/quote.html