Why is no one covering this: Parallel Government Finds Support?!She's got a point. There is a shortage of news articles out there covering this. However, there were some, so I emailed her with links to several, some of which I used in my last post.
She was nice enough to email me back, and had several interesting things to say...
- She put the number of his supporters at 1-2 million. This is much higher than the numbers I have heard in the past, and equates to roughly 5-10% of the Iraqi population.
- She has seen very little coverage of Al-Sadr's shadow government on either CNN or the BBC, but it is a huge, looming issue for the Iraqis.
- Educated, secular Iraqis view Sadr as young, rash, and unqualified to lead so many people. His militia is seen as violent, repressive, and frighteningly loyal to him.
Obviously, arresting Al-Sadr could become a very big deal. Meanwhile, US forces have already started raids on his followers...
