Powerful Iraqi Cleric was Once Known as "Mulla Atari"

Powerful Iraqi Cleric was Once Known as "Mulla Atari"

April 10, 2008
GamePolitics has previously reported that the powerful and militant Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is a hardcore gamer.

USA Today sheds a bit more light on al-Sadr's gaming chops with news that, as a religious student, his video game play earned him a unique nickname:
As a young seminary student, his nickname was Mulla Atari, because he preferred video games to studying the Quran. Now, Muqtada al-Sadr is a radical cleric revered by millions of poor Shiites as a modern-day Robin Hood. He also may be the most powerful man in Iraq.

Comments

I could see someone starting a war after thousands of lost games of QBert...

Goddamned springy snakes....
I heard he bought a Virtual Game Boy, a 3DO, a Sega Saturn, and an Atari Jaguar. It was all downhill from there... No wonder he's such an angry Mulla.
Moqtada al-Sadr, a video game nut? Mulla Atari?

(head explodes)
[...] wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptGamePolitics has previously reported that the powerful and militant Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is a hardcore gamer. USA Today sheds a bit more light on al-Sadr’s gaming chops with news that, as a religious student, his video game play earned him a unique nickname: As a young seminary student, his nickname was Mulla Atari, because he preferred video games to studying the Quran. Now, Muqtada al-Sadr is a radical cleric revered by millions of poor Shiites as a modern-day Robin Hood. He also may be the most powerful man in Iraq. [...]
Maybe if we were to give him a copy of CoD4 he'd kill us on there instead of on the streets?
Hmmm nothing like getting non-news from the fine piece of journalistic integrity that is USA Today.
I got it ! Muqtada al-Sadr was an Atari ST fanboy who couldn't bear this computer was overcome by PC (as well as Commodore Amiga). And this is what made him a radical militant.
I think he's currently taking shelter in Iran. So he's the most powerful Iraqi in Iran.
So wait, video games don't cause jihads, only the atari 2600's?
I'm curious to see if Faux News grabs this one..
@ Ebonheart

Nice one. Lets hope JT doesn't use that as an idea for a lawsuit though.
And who says gamers can't be successful people?
@ SrA Grandpa

I should copyright that before he can, I want royleties!

@ Simon

Lead a radicle sect of people who hurt others who don't believe, 50 bucks says we could do the same to the church of gaming, pro-life people have done the same.
He's probably just tensed up because he has been cut off from any newer games/systems. Maybe buying an X-Box will make him more relaxed?
@Christian Astrup:

Well, if it's a 360, it might mollify him for a while until it's hit with a Ruby Ring of Death... then how upset will he be?
@WarOtter

I could see someone starting a war after thousands of lost games of QBert…


Did you ever play the 80s game Impossible Mission? According to the manual the lead villain, Elvin Atombender, went supervillain/Jack Thompson crazy after a power failure on a game he was a few points off the high score on. It's possibly the earliest conclusive evidence of Games=Violence...
@ Ragnaar

Good point - how about a Wii with Mario Galaxy?
Correction for USA Today: Al Sadr WAS a very powerful man in Iraq, US troops and Iraqi Special Forces.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/04/how_did_sadr_win_in_...
@ Ebonheart
If you do we need to talk about an advisor's fee. I need my cut too.

Anyone else think this will get blown out of proprotion? I'm really hoping it won't but I have a feeling it will.
@ SrA Grandpa

Well, lets say 100 per usage, meaning for Tack alone thats at least 100 grand in USD, so lets say 10%? We'll hagle it out later.

And maybe these anti-game critics have it backwards, maybe it's the consols that make people violent. God knows all those cartridge readers pissed me off trying to get it to work just right. Those things where more secure than a Fort Knox safe. 34.756 degrees to the left 92.88 degrees to the right, 3 taps in the exact mathmaticle center, and then draw a picture of a pony in the air creating extreme detail then it would work. Now that was the ONLY way to get my Famicon to work, what was the way you guys got it to work?
@ Ebonheart
So far I like it. Our people will be in touch.

How did I get mine to work? AFI 29-468 states "Pick the unit up 6" off the ground and drop it. Then consult the Magic 8-ball for its chances of working. And if all else fails 2 jolts from a defibulator should do the trick."

Although in my case it took 3 jolts.
[...] Conocemos hoy a través de Gamepolitics.com, una página web que suele unir lo político y lo videojueguil, y al parecer de vez en cuando salir indemne del embrollo donde se han metido, que al parecer existe en Irak un tipo que se lia la manta a la cabeza, bueno más concretamente es una especie de clérigo o jefe religioso de la zona, cuyo nombre es Muqtada al-Sadr que fue conocido en sus años mozos con el sobrenombre de Mulla Atari. Este buen tipo aunque con pinta de terrorista, se define como un perfecto hardcore-gamer que prefiere jugar a leer el Corán. Este tipo es seguido en su pais por millones de fieles pobres quienes ven en él como una especie de moderno Robin Hood de corte árabe. En definitiva uno de los hombres más poderosos de eso llamado hoy como Irak. [...]
Yes! let get him a Wii! That will make him a very happy gamer. Those peace talks will go very smoothly if they play a game of Wii tennis, Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, and Endless Ocean. Who doesn't like petting a hammer head shark?
Oh no! Jack Thompson was right! Pong causes holy wars!
The only way to stop hm is to make Bungie give him Recon.
@Rhade

NO!!! Last thing I want to see is Faux News making another failure "report" on gaming...
[...] Powerful Iraqi Cleric was Once Known as “Mulla Atari” [Game Politics] Posted By: Zack MartinON Friday, April 11th, 200812:26 AM [...]
@ Carlos

If you believe that, then Jack Thompson is one of the biggest fans of shooters ever born. Come out of bizarro world.

I'm not sure gaming is on the top of the list of concerns in Iraq, but it is likely that the Sadr coalition will control a good portion of the country when the US leaves. In Shia Islam, I believe Sadr still needs further official study to be able to issue fatwas or religious edicts which is one of the reasons he has been largely absent in public(he is trying to gain Ayatollah status). I wouldn't be surprised either way if he bans gaming or sanctions it.
@ SrA Grandpa

If Atari causes Jihads, what causes crusades?

@ Rhade

They won't that would mean they would have to focus on something other than murders and the like.
Let's give all the mulla's an xbox360 or ps3, they will never want to blow themselves up.
@crsty:

As I said before, the 360 would probably end up with the RRoD, thus causing further outrage... just make sure you don't give him Devil May Cry 4 for the PS3... otherwise, he'd get frustrated with the initial install.
@ crsty

Why not just buy him an atari 2600?

GamePolitics ShoutBox

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ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
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Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:36am
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:32am
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:30am
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:44am
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
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