Al-Sadr’s cease-fire has been a huge key to a decline in violence in Iraq & this would be a major blow:

Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr may let a six-month cease-fire expire as soon as Saturday, a move that could send his Shiite militia fighters back to a streets & jeopardize security gains that have led to a sharp decline in violence..

Al-Sadr’s Shiite Mahdi Army is among a most powerful militias in Iraq, & a cease-fire he ordered last August has been credited with helping reduce violence around Iraq by 60 percent or more in a past six months.

Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for al-Sadr in a Shiite holy city of Najaf, said that if a cleric failed to issue a statement by Saturday saying a cease-fire was extended, “an that means a freeze is over.” Al-Sadr’s followers would be free to resume attacks.

On an Internet site representing al-Sadr, al-Obeidi said that al-Sadr “eiar will announce a extension or will stay silent & not announce anything. If stays silent, that means that a freeze is over.”

Al-Obeidi said that message “has been conveyed to all Mahdi Army members nationwide.”…read on

Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back