Movers and shakers

A couple interesting of events in Iraq the past couple of days that I would like to highlight.

The first, Shia cleric and annoying fellow Muqtada al Sadr returned to Iran after coming back to Iraq following a 4 year study in Qom, Iran. "Uncle Mookie", as we referred to him back in '06-'07, created or at the very least co-opted the violent Jaysh al Mahdi militia but left for Iran to study theology in the hopes of becoming an ayatollah. He returned to Iraq earlier this month after Prime Minister Maliki began forming the government.

I am no means an expert in the larger politics of Iraq or the Shia in general as a majority of my last two deployments have been Sunni threat focused, but I do have to wonder about this back and forth movement. Did al Sadr show up to try to sway or possibly control Maliki? Was he there to deliver a warning? Or did he believe it was safe to come back only to be told to find his way back to Qom, perhaps by the Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani himself who does not want Sadr causing more problems?

The other interesting development is the founder of Ansar al Islam has said he wishes to return to Iraq. Ansar al Islam is a terrorist organization that operated in Kurdish Iraq during the late '90s up to the invasion. The group attacked Kurdish targets in an attempt to form an Islamic Caliphate-type government in the region. After the US-led invasion the group assisted foreign fighters and Al Qaida in entering the country and soon changed its name to Ansar al Sunna and spred its influence into much of northern and central Iraq. AAI/AAS worked on an off with AQI, sometimes working towards the common goal and sometimes in violent conflict with the other organization.

Mullah Krekar's desire to leave Norway may just be due to pressure from Norwegian authorities, afterall there is a great quote in the article from the Norwegian foreign minister who states "Nothing would please us more", referencing Mr. Krekar's leaving. However, there may be more to the situation. In my last post I mentioned that an Iraqi security source claimed AAS was one of the three primary armed threats in Diyala Province. Is AAS gaining power and influence due to the perceived weakness of AQI? Is Mullah Krekar's desire to return to Iraq a desire to lead his organization once again?

It's probably the Norwegian food driving him away.