"mook-TAH'-duh al SAH'-dur"

US commander hopes al-Sadr will stop attacks Associated Press - April 23, 2008 10:23 AM ET BAGHDAD (AP) - A U.S. commander in Iraq is hoping a top Shiite cleric will use his influence to stop attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces. Clashes have spread to the outskirts of Baghdad. [huh?] The U.S. military says 21 suspected gunman were killed in Shiite militia strongholds. Iraqi officials say 15 civilians are among the dead. Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin is not directly attributing violence to Mutqada al-Sadr's (mook-TAH'-duh al SAH'-durz) followers. But the number-two U.S. commander in Iraq does acknowledge that the radical Shiite cleric could stop the attacks. Al-Sadr threatened over the weekend to unleash his Mahdi Army militia in an "open war," if the Iraqi government crackdown persists.

(( Never any harm in hopin’ . . . . ))