Lame-Duck Intensifies Confrontation with Islam

On March 16, I argued that “Bush seems to have decided to maintain his aggressive, militant course of frontal confrontation with Islamic political actors who do not submit to U.S. leadership.” The decision to provoke a confrontation with nationalist Iraqi leader Moqtada al Sadr, constitutes the latest piece of evidence supporting my contention. Leader of the poor Shi’a in Baghdad, Al Sadr has one foot inside the Iraqi regime but is in fierce competition with the pro-Iranian and U.S.-supported Shi’ite party that controls the Baghdad state apparatus.