Iraq prime minister orders removal of checkpoints

[Canuck_Buck]

[8D]BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered the removal of U.S. and Iraqi military checkpoints from Sadr City Tuesday, according to his office.

The order came after a general strike ordered by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadral-Sadr shut down the sprawling Shiite slum.
Most shops, schools and government buildings there were closed for the day.

The order pertains to all entrances of Sadr City and says they must be reopened by 5 p.m. (9 a.m. ET), according to al Maliki's office.

For the last week, U.S. and Iraqi troops have imposed checkpoints at the main entrance to Sadr City, while conducting raids in their search for an American soldier kidnapped in central Baghdad on October 23.

Al-Maliki's orders were being assessed, a U.S. military spokesman said. They came just days after al-Maliki told U.S. officials he answers first to the Iraqi people and that he was not "America's man in Iraq." (Full story)

"If the prime minister has concerns about checkpoints we will respond to those wishes appropriately," he said, but added checkpoints are part of the Baghdad security plan and will continue to be part of the Baghdad security plan.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/31/iraq.main/index.html

Sounds like the monkey cleric has a monkey of his own...close in on these militants and ring the rag dry...[8D]

[Canuck_Buck]

ok so not long after US troops comply and remove the road blocks, this is what happens.[:'(]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,226357,00.html

Soon after U.S. forces began removing concrete blocks and sandbags from security checkpoints, a homicide car bomber targeted a wedding ceremony in the capital, killing 11 people, including four children, police said.
The bomber plowed a car packed with explosives into a crowd of Shiite celebrants preparing to board vehicles outside the bride's home in the Shaab neighborhood of Baghdad, Lt. Ahmed Mohamed of the Risafa police station said.

[ipscshooter]

Figures. Try to get them to join the 21st century, and they want to stay in the 14th. Maybe it is time to just withdraw, and let them have at each other.

[Canuck_Buck]

I hear ya, however this is not an example of the entire country, it's one portion of a city