Moqtada al-Sadr pulls out of Iraqi gov; ; still suporting “surge”?
Cleric Sadr’s bloc to quit Iraq government
By Mussab Al-Khairalla and Paul Tait Sun Apr 15, 2:59 PM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The political movement of fiery Iraqi Shi’ite
cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr said on Sunday it would
withdraw from the government on Monday to press its demand for a
timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
Officials from the movement, which holds six ministries and a quarter
of the parliamentary seats in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite
Alliance, said the formal announcement would be made on Monday at a
news conference.
The move is unlikely to bring down the government, but it could
create tensions in Maliki’s fractious Shi’ite-led government of
national unity at a time when it is trying to heal sectarian
divisions that threaten to tip Iraq into civil war.
“We are going to declare our withdrawal from government because the
prime minister does not want to make a timetable for the withdrawal
of foreign forces from Iraq,” said one official in Sadr’s movement
who declined to be identified.
There was no immediate comment from the government.
Maliki says he sees no need to set a timetable. He said last week his
government was working to build up Iraq’s security forces as quickly
as possible so U.S.-led forces could leave.
Two other Sadr officials confirmed the intention to pull out of the
government but stressed the movement would continue to give
“cautious” backing to a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in the capital.
The Sadrists will remain in parliament.
Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia, regarded by the Pentagon as the greatest
threat to peace in Iraq, has kept a low profile during the two-month-
old crackdown, reportedly on the orders of Sadr.
Despite the offensive, violence raged in Baghdad on Sunday.
Up to 34 people were killed and 100 wounded by bombs in mainly
Shi’ite districts. Police also found 30 bodies, a sharp rise from the
usually much lower number of victims of sectarian death squads found
in the capital’s streets each day since the security plan began.
Two British military personnel died when two helicopters crashed
north of Baghdad. Four more people were injured when the Puma
transport helicopters crashed near a U.S. air base in Taji, 20 km (9
miles) from Baghdad, British officials said.
The helicopters may have collided in mid-air, the U.S. military said.
FEARED MILITIA
The Sadrists ended a two-month boycott of parliament in January after
pulling out in protest over the timetable issue and a meeting between
Maliki and U.S. President George W. Bush. They returned after a deal
was brokered.
A senior official in Sadr’s movement, Abdul-Mehdi al-Muteyri, said
Sadr had also ordered the pullout, saying Maliki was hamstrung by
political parties in his government pulling him in different directions.
“We don’t believe in partisan quotas. Under the direct orders of
Moqtada al-Sadr we have decided we are going to leave the government
in order to give the prime minister the best possible options so that
he can run his government,” Muteyri said.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis answered a call by Sadr to rally in the
holy Shi’ite city of Najaf last week to protest against the presence
of some 140,000 U.S.-led forces in Iraq.
Sadr led two uprisings against American forces in 2004 but later
entered mainstream politics. He is a key backer of Maliki.
The U.S. military says Sadr is now in hiding in Iran, but the
cleric’s aides insist he is still in Iraq.
Bush said last week that setting timetables for a troop withdrawal
would undermine the crackdown in Baghdad, which he said was beginning
to show signs of progress in curbing sectarian violence.
(Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim, Yara Bayoumy, Aseel Kami and
Dean Yates)