Mookie Rears His Ugly Head

According to al-Reuters, this freak is powerful. If that's the case, why has he been in hiding so long, likely in Iran?

KUFA, Iraq (Reuters) - Powerful anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months on Friday and again demanded that U.S. troops get out of Iraq.

Sadr, who has not been seen since the start of a major U.S.-backed security crackdown in Iraq in February, also sought to stamp his authority on his fractured Mehdi Army militia, calling on them to stop fighting Iraqi forces. The militia has been blamed for much of the violence, particularly in Baghdad.

In a sermon at Friday prayers in the southern city of Kufa, his home base, Sadr also called Israel, Britain and the United States the "evil trio". Dressed in traditional black robes and turban, he entered the mosque surrounded by guards and aides.

The U.S. military says Sadr fled to Iran in January ahead of the launch of the Baghdad security plan, but aides to the young cleric insist he never left Iraq.

Residents of Kufa said they had noticed more Mehdi Army militiamen on the streets in the past week, possibly indicating Sadr had been away and had returned. The U.S. military, which has been tracking his movements, said it had noted his return.

It's way past time this joker got whacked.

UPDATE: Most excellent news. It's not Mookie, but one of his top guys was killed by the Brits in Basra

BAGHDAD -- The leader of the Shiite Mahdi Army militia in the southern Iraqi city of Basra was killed Friday in a gunbattle with British soldiers, Iraqi police said.

Wissam al-Waili, 23, also known as Abu Qadir, was shot and killed along with his brother and two aides during the battle Friday afternoon, police said.

The Mahdi Army of radical Shiite Muqtada al-Sadr is fiercely opposed to the presence of U.S. and British troops in Iraq. However, the militia has lowered its profile since U.S.-led forces began a security crackdown in Baghdad in February.

The gunbattle Friday began about 4 p.m. when British forces attempted to arrest al-Waili after he left a mosque in Jumhoriyah a middle class, residential area in central Basra, police said. Al-Waili and his three companions opened fire and were killed in the subsequent gunbattle, police said.

Rest in pieces.

UPDATE II: Hot Air has a roundup on all things Mookie.