Al-Sadr Renews Calls for Withdrawal of U.S. Troops From Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq _ After an unexplained four-month absence, the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr abruptly re-emerged for prayers Friday at a mosque in southern Iraq, raising questions about his motivations and how his return will affect efforts to stem violence and broker reconciliation between the country’s factions.
In a sermon delivered to throngs of emotional supporters, the leader of the Mahdi Army militia repeated his demand for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. But he also struck a nationalistic, inclusive tone by appealing for understanding among Iraq’s Shiites, Sunnis and Christians.
“Let each of you be the brother of the other one. Each of you should shake the hands of the other and embrace,” al-Sadr told Friday worshipers in Kufa, outside his base in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
Hours after his sermon, Iraqi police and U.S. military officials announced the death of the Mahdi Army commander in the southern Shiite city of Basra. They said the militia leader, Wisam Abd Abdul, was killed in a shootout as British and Iraqi troops tried to arrest him.
Also Friday, the U.S. military announced the deaths of six U.S. soldiers. That raised the monthly toll to 88 and put May on pace to become one of the deadliest months for American forces in Iraq.
The reappearance of the outspoken cleric ended a mystery that for months was a widespread matter of speculation.
Though al-Sadr’s political party holds one of the largest blocs in the Iraqi parliament, he has been a target of the U.S. military since his militia forces battled American troops to a standstill in 2004. Many believed he had chosen to lie low, and ordered his militia fighters to do the same, as the U.S. increased troop levels and stepped up efforts to secure Baghdad.
The U.S. military and others believed he was in hiding in Iran. His allies denied it but would not say exactly where he was.
The timing and ultimate motivation of al-Sadr’s return raised a new round of speculation Friday, with some analysts conjecturing that the cleric had reappeared to reinforce his influence within his Shiite movement. Reports had circulated that he has been losing influence among his political supporters.
“He’s got a very loose political movement,” said Joost Hiltermann, director of the International Crisis Group’s office in Amman, Jordan. “He was under criticism from within the movement for being a poor leader, in that he’s not there. He had to come back and re-energize his supporters and reaffirm his leadership.”
Al-Sadr may have carefully timed his return to seize the stage during the absence of his leading Shiite political adversary, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. The head of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq has left the country to undergo cancer treatment in Iran.
On Sunday, the Iraqi parliament is scheduled to vote on six new Cabinet appointees to replace Sadrist ministers who pulled out of the government in recent weeks.
Al-Sadr’s sermon also comes as the U.S. and Iran are preparing to embark in the next few days on a dialogue over the future of Iraq. Vali Nasr, a Shiite author and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it is possible that al-Sadr’s reappearance was negotiated between Iraq and Iran.
On Friday, al-Sadr strode into the al-Kufa mosque behind political allies from his organization and personal bodyguards with beige suits and discreet earpieces. Worshipers in the mosque stood up as he talked and waved their hands in the air.
“No, no to vanity! No, no to Israel! No, no to America,” they chanted as he climbed to the stage. “No, no colonialism! No, no imperialism! No, no Satan!”
In his sermon, al-Sadr called on U.S. forces to depart or set a timetable to leave. He called for patience and forbade his supporters in the Mahdi Army to clash with Iraqi forces. He reached out to Sunni leaders and asked his followers to take in Baghdad Christians being targeted by insurgents.
“I should not forget to remind you all that it’s haram (prohibited by Islam) for the Iraqis to kill any Iraqi Sunni or Christian,” al-Sadr said.
He decried calls to reconsider the purging of Baathists from Iraqi public life and denounced a lack of services for Iraqi citizens. He also asked for the Iraqi government to rebuild the graves of Shiite Islam’s tenth and eleventh imams, which were damaged by the bombing of the al-Askari mosque in Samara, which ignited a wave of sectarian killings. When al-Sadr left the mosque, his entourage drove off in three identical convoys of luxury sedans with tinted windows. “With you Sayyid Muqtada, until we achieve martyrdom,” his supporters shouted behind him.
The cleric’s sermon amounted to a political platform for the al-Sadr bloc in parliament, according to Baha al-Aaraji, a prominent member of the bloc.
“We have never tried yet to build a steady country,” al-Aaraji said. He cited a decline in the political process and a “deterioration in security and problems day-by-day that the government has been unable to solve.”
While al-Sadr’s message of reconciliation was welcome, Sunni politicians said al-Sadr’s past as head of a powerful Shiite militia left them with doubts.
“The Sunni people are afraid and they are not optimistic,” said Adnan al-Duleimi, head of the Sunni bloc in parliament.
“Is it going to be calm? Or is he going to escalate the violence?” he asked. “We still don’t know which one of these two Muqtada Sadrs will emerge. The next few days will reveal the truth.”
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(Chicago Tribune correspondents Hassan Jarrah in Kufa and Nadeem Majeed in Baghdad contributed to this report.)
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(c) 2007, Chicago Tribune.
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