The news for Mookie is getting worse and he is making some dumb moves which will only hasten his downfall. First off Gateway Pundit has the news Sadr has been disowned by his family. Clearly he doesn’t have the Sadr family on his side anymore after his actions.

Alseyed Josef Alsadar a member of the honored Sadar family wrote a letter to Alrafedain news (Nida’a al Rafidain News) which said: “Muqtada al-Sadr has tainted the reputation of this respected family, and the family disowns Muqtada.

Included in the post is news on how the Ayatollahs are starting to openly oppose Sadr – contrary to their conventions to not speak ill of other clerics:

Muqtada was told by a number of Ayatollahs that it is against Islam to take arms against an elected government. The will of the people is to be respected and political change has to happen at the ballet box. This is very encouraging and really not a surprise.

Islam teaches Muslims that it is their duty to speak out and take action to confront wrongdoings. It is time this teaching is put to practice by those who profess to be leaders of the religion. Muslim condemnations of terrorist attacks and bigotry have been heard for some time now. Suicide attacks have also been condemned by a number of Muslim leaders, now it is time to call those who entice violent political change to task.

Maybe they are concerned that Sadr’s Mahdi Army may be attacking Grand Ayatollah Sistanis associates:

n Basra, a senior aide to Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani died on Tuesday, a week after being seriously injured in an assassination attempt. Two other al-Sistani representatives were injured in separate ambushes.

The attacks came just days after a top aide of al-Sadr was killed in Najaf, suggesting the violence could be part of an internal Shiite power struggle.

Sadr seems to be losing control in more ways than one. One of his spokesmen, in a, rambling, incoherent and self-conflicting interview, admits Sadr has lost control of some elements of the Mahdi Fighters:

RFE/RL: Does al-Sadr have control over all of the Al-Mahdi Army?

Al-Ubaydi: We do not say that we have control over all of them. But at the same time, we have started a very good work in order to make control upon this popular institution. And at the same time, we have done a good work to distinguish the bad people who have penetrated [it] in order to stain our reputation and during the two periods of stopping or freezing Jaysh Al-Mahdi’s actions, we have done a good work.

And note the damage that has been inflicted on the Mahdi Army so far:

Al-Ubaydi: But, in Al-Sadr City, there is a kind of mistreatment from the American troops and Iraqi troops toward the general Iraqi people. [When] I say general I mean civilians, because the snipers have been using the high buildings in order to kick people [out]. They think that will help them to stop any kind of conveying [movement] from street to street. But that has cost too much, because we have about 200 people who have been killed by [these snipers]. In addition to these, maybe 300 people have been killed by the raid from American airplanes.

We all know these ‘civilians’ were Mahdi fighters – scratch 500 bad guys. And in a laughable attempt to spin his words and snow the gullible SurrenderMedia the Sadr spokesman claims there is no threat of war against Maliki, just Americans – unless Iraqi forces happen to get in front of their fighters’ guns.

RFE/RL: Do you expect wide-scale fighting to erupt between the government and the Al-Mahdi Army across the country?

Al-Ubaydi: I think Sayyid Muqtada does not accept any kind of clashes with the government troops. If any kind of open war starts, it will start against the [U.S.] occupation forces. But if the occupation forces try to make use of the Iraqi troops in front of them during [any such] clashes, we have to defend ourselves.

Sadly a lot of folks in the SurrenderMedia and far left will believe that nonsense without question. Sadr has other problems as well – his Mahdi leaders in Basra have been given 24 hours to surrender themselves to authorities:

The order comes from Gen. Mohan al-Freiji, who told reporters Tuesday that Basra city and the surrounding province are back under government control.

Al-Freiji says he has warrants for 81 people, including senior leaders of the Mahdi militia, and they have 24 hours to give up.

My guess is there will be more action in Basra tomorrow. Even the people of Sadr city are turning on Sadr and the Madhi Army:

Umm Sadiq, a 30-year-old government employee who was born in Sadr City, said she is keeping her son home from school and her family is considering selling their house and moving.

“The presence of gunmen everywhere frightens and worries me when I leave my house. I cannot keep my children from hearing the big booms and explosions,” she said.

She blamed both al-Maliki’s government and the Mahdi Army for the misery.

“People have started raising doubts about Mahdi Army’s intentions and operations, saying that helicopters would not hit unless attacked,” she said. “People are not happy with the Mahdi Army or the government.”

But the funniest swipe at Sadr (and Taliban leader Mullah Omar) is an opinion piece from the region which mocks the two bad boys for crying for help from the very institutions and laws they flaunted, threatened and tried to tear down:

The wonders of politics and fate never cease; Sayyid Muqtada al Sadr is demanding ending the security crackdown against his armed men and is calling for the resorting to the political process.

…

When did al Sadr and his supporters ever take the peaceful route? And when did he ever renounce sectarian violence for a peaceful alternative so that he may call for peace today?

Al Sadr had devoted his time to provocation; he wanted everything or nothing, which is the simplest proof of political ignorance. Today, al Sadr is resorting to the political process and political mechanisms before it’s too late.

…

Today the Taliban and Muqtada al Sadr are calling for resorting to the laws of a game in which they have become addicted to breaking the rules. And as the saying goes; the worst thing about being above the law is that you cannot enjoy the shelter of its umbrella when you need it. This is why one finds that al Sadr and the Taliban’s calls for rescue are not met with real compassion since they have lost their sources of support and the wise men have tired of advising them.

It is a pretty hard hitting piece. Sadr has lost the support of his fellow Shiites and the Ayatollahs of Iraq. He has lost control of the Mahdi, who are being decimated anyway, and even his family has publicly shunned him. As I said before he has become the Benedict Arnold of the fledgling Iraq Democracy as has tried to undermine an Arab state as a puppet of his Persian masters in Iran. Not a good place to be at all.