No subject

that it does not allow the establishment of permanent US military bases in
Iraq - a point that has been stressed ad infinitum by Foreign Minister
Hoshyar Zebari. Inter Press Service correspondent Gareth Porter, among
others, has stressed this is the final nail in the coffin of the
neo-conservative, neo-imperial dream of having Iraq at the Middle East
center of an empire of bases. In a quirky historical twist, Maliki knocks
out US Vice President Dick Cheney. 

The Sadrists anyway are not convinced. Last month, Muqtada said, "If they
tell you that the agreement ends the presence of the occupation, let me tell
you that the occupier will retain its bases. And whoever tells you that it
gives us sovereignty is a liar." 

So what will the Sadrists do in practice? Before the approval Muqtada, in a
statement read out by his spokesman Salah al-Ubaidi at the Kufa mosque,
said, "If the American forces remain, I will reinforce the resisters,
especially the brigades subsumed under the banner of the Judgment Day,"
Muqtada rallied all these "Bands of the Eternal Truth" to "enlist behind
this mujahid banner". This Sadrist version of special forces would only
attack American forces, and not the Iraqi military (controlled by the Maliki
government). 

Muqtada is in a difficult position. He has to confront the problem that
strategically Tehran subscribes to not attacking US troops as the best way
for the Americans to eventually leave. And Muqtada at the moment is studying
in Qom, the spiritual capital of Iran - he could hardly afford to antagonize
his hosts. To top it all, the Sadrist movement had been adopting a Hezbollah
approach and reconverting from militia activities to being firmly embedded
in the Iraqi political landscape. Maliki has made his move. Now it's time
for Muqtada's. 

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is
Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a
snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. He may be reached at
pepeasia at yahoo.com.