Shiite Cleric Lets Supporters Rejoin Iraqi Government

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
December 22, 2006
Pg. 7

By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has agreed to allow his supporters to rejoin the Iraqi government after a three-week boycott to protest the prime minister's meeting with President Bush, three officials close to the militia leader said late Thursday.
Al-Sadr's loyalists — 30 in parliament and six in the Cabinet — walked out three weeks ago after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met Bush in Jordan. The move halted the passage of legislation.
Shiites from the Iraqi parliament's largest bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, met Thursday in their holy city of Najaf, as part of a plan to persuade the anti-American militia leader to rejoin the political process and rein in his fighters. They were in touch with al-Sadr's aides, and would meet the cleric today or Saturday, aides to participants told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the talks.
"The main (United Iraqi) Alliance forces and the al-Sadr movement have agreed to solve the problems and overcome the obstacles that made al-Sadr boycott the political process," said Abdul Karim al-Anizi, a Shiite lawmaker from the Dawa faction. Two figures in al-Sadr's movement — an aide and a parliament member — also told AP the cleric had agreed to allow his followers to go back to their jobs.
On Thursday, al-Sadr's loyalists met with members of the Shiite bloc, and laid out their demands for returning to the government, said the lawmaker. "Our demands are to hand over the security file and not allow any regional interference in Iraqi affairs," he said. The Sadrists planned to issue a statement on Saturday, he added.
The reference to the security file appeared to be a demand that U.S. forces cede control of security to the Iraqi government. American forces already are implementing a plan to give more responsibility to Iraqi troops, but doubts remain about whether they are ready.
Al-Sadr's agreement to tell his followers to rejoin politics was possibly the result of intervention by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, in a bid to keep Shiite unity. Still unsettled: the fate of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, blamed for some of the country's worst attacks on Sunnis.
American officials also were considering changes to Iraq policy, including a short-term surge in U.S. troop numbers. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on his second day in Iraq, met with Iraqi leaders to discuss "the overall approach, including the possibility of some additional assistance." He was vague about the type of assistance and said no specific numbers were discussed.
President Bush is considering whether to quickly send thousands of additional troops to the country.
 
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