Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr makes bid for greater role in US-occupied Iraq

Sadr’s speech was in line with recent efforts to present his movement as an Iraqi nationalist tendency that can unify the people against the US occupation and the catastrophic conditions it has inflicted. On April 9, the Sadrists organised a demonstration of up to one million people in Najaf to demand a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops. A week later, six Sadrist ministers resigned from the cabinet of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in protest at his refusal to ask Washington for a date. They subsequently won majority support in the parliament for a resolution demanding a US withdrawal. This month, leading Sadrists have held talks with Sunni Arab tribal leaders from western Iraq with the aim of developing a non-sectarian anti-occupation alliance.

Draped in a white burial shroud to symbolise his willingness to face death, Sadr began Friday’s speech with a chant: “No to the devil, no to America, no to the occupation, no to Israel”. He repeated his movement’s demand for a timetable for the withdrawal of US and other foreign forces. The Maliki government, he declared, “is not authorised to extend the mandate of the foreign forces in Iraq after a million people demonstrated to protest that presence and 144 [out of 275] lawmakers signed to demand the withdrawal of these forces”.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/may2007/sadr-m29.shtml