Oh, my mistake. Fawzi Tarzi is not a terrorist leader, Fawzi Tarzi is a member of the Iraqi parliament. In any event he delivered an ultimatum to the US: Knock it off, or all options are on the table.
"Let it be known that disbanding the Mehdi Army will mean the end of [Prime Minister Nuri] al-Maliki's government, and therefore the siege of Sadr City and Shula should end immediately or all options are open to us," Tarzi said. "There is a fierce military and media campaign and a dirty political conspiracy planned and supported by the occupier against the Sadr trend."
Tarzi called on humanitarian organizations and the world media to visit Sadr City to see what he described as a "humanitarian tragedy." The Baghdad neighborhood is plagued with "random airstrikes and raids," which are causing a deteriorating humanitarian situation, he said.
More than 400 people have died and 1,300 have been wounded in the attacks, Tarzi said, citing hospital figures.
Also on the warpath this weekend, Muqtadah Al-Sadr issued what he called the "last warning" yesterday, and of course whoever or whatever al Qaeda in Iraq is these days, they just declared open war on US forces and the Awakening Councils.
So that's the climate into which Condi was secretly parachuted on Sunday. The US and Iraqi forces are so in control of things that not only was Baghdad screwed down and everyone curfewed behind their own neighborhood giant concrete walls, but the entire *Green Zone* itself was declared closed.
"Such good progress!" is the report we can expect from Ms. Rice upon her return.
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