The Associated Press reported yesterday that anti-U.S. Shi’a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had left Iraq for safe haven in Iran.  The report states that al-Sadr may have fled Iraq several weeks ago in advance of a planned pacification drive in the Baghdad area.

But wait a minute.  This morning Reuters is quoting four al-Sadr associates as denying the AP reports.  The al-Sadr aides claim that the cleric is staying in the holy Shi’ite city of Najaf, but has curtailed public appearances for security reasons.  Reuters quotes Nassar al-Rubaei, head of the Sadrist bloc in Iraq’s parliament, as saying, “He [al-Sadr] is now in Iraq.”  Al-Rubaei offered no further information as to the cleric’s whereabouts.

These conflicting reports come as the Iraqi commander of the Baghdad security crackdown, Lt. Gen. Abboud Gambar, announced that Iraq would close its borders with Iran and Syria as part of the pacification campaign.  Says the AP:

The general did not say when the borders would close, but another official said it was expected within two days. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, added that the borders would only partly reopen after the 72-hour closing.
[…]
The United States has long charged that Iran and Syria let extremists use their territory to slip into Iraq to attack U.S. and Iraqi forces as well as civilians.
[…]
Iraqi authorities have routinely echoed the U.S. charges against Syria, but they rarely make that claim regarding Iran, with which Iraq’s Shiite-led government has close relations.
[…]
Gambar said Baghdad’s nighttime curfew would be extended by one hour when the security drive kicks off fully, running from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
[…]
The U.S. military announced last week that the clampdown had already begun, although Iraqis have seen little evidence of that. President Bush has committed 21,500 more Americans to the operation, which is expected to involve a total of 90,000 Iraqi and U.S. soldiers.  (Emphasis added by Effluent.  No one could reasonably expect Iraqi Shi’a leaders to criticize Iran, could they?)

Closing the borders with Syria and Iran is only part of the planned pacification measures.  Here’s more from the AP:

Gambar said those who had occupied homes of displaced families would be given a 15-day ultimatum to return the properties to the original owner or prove they had permission to be there.
[…]
‘Everyone who is occupying property that is owned by a displaced person bears the legal responsibility for the protection of the property and its contents,’ he said.
[…]
‘Occupants of properties belonging to the displaced have 15 days from publication of this statement to vacate these properties and return them along with their contents to their rightful owners,’ he added.
[…]
Gambar said Baghdad’s nighttime curfew would be extended by one hour when the security drive kicks off fully, running from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Gambar is himself a Shi’ite and is a veteran of the Saddam Hussein army which fought against Coalition forces in 1991.

At any rate, if he truly intends to go ahead with this plan, I hope General Gambar is better at guarding the Iraqi border than we are at guarding ours….

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