Should John McCain Drop Out of the Presidential Race? Too Out of Touch with Middle East Reality to Govern?

I guess John McCain is right after all: everything is hunky dory in Iraq, just like he says. Oh, other than this: al-Sadr calls for attacks on U.S. troops.

Maybe it's time for John McCain to drop out of the race for President. One thing this country can not stand is another President so detached from reality, particularly reality in the Middle East.

al-Sadr calls for attacks on U.S. troops.

By SAAD ABDUL KADIR, Associated Press Writer Sun Apr 8, 9:09 AM ET

BAGHDAD - The renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraqi forces to stop cooperating with the United States and told his guerrilla fighters to concentrate their attacks on American troops rather than Iraqis, according to a statement issued Sunday.

The statement, stamped with al-Sadr's official seal, was distributed in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Sunday — a day before a large demonstration there, called for by al-Sadr, to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

"You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don't walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy," the statement said. Its authenticity could not be verified.

In the statement, al-Sadr — who commands an enormous following among Iraq's majority Shiites and has close allies in the Shiite-dominated government — also encouraged his followers to attack only American forces, not fellow Iraqis.