Sadrists strike deal to end Baghdad fighting

So who is winning - the Sadrists?

Agence France-Presse - 11 May, 2008
The movement of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Saturday it had struck a deal with Iraqi officials to end weeks of fighting in Baghdad that left another 13 people dead overnight.Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, the spokesman for the cleric's office in the central shrine city of Najaf, said the deal reached with a government delegation would be effective from Sunday.

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US military threatens Sadr

Sadr is becoming the man in Iraq. Seems that - like the hydra - he refuses to be killed. Pretty sad that the cauldron that is Iraq today should produce such an unpleasant pudding:

Agence France-Presse - 21 April, 2008
A top US general on Sunday warned that the military would strike back after hardline Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr threatened to launch a new uprising by his militia."I hope Moqtada al-Sadr continues to depress violence and not encourage it," said Major General Rick Lynch, commander of US forces in central Iraq.

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Sadr lambasts call for federalism

Sadr has been behind all the terrible violence in Kirkuk. Indeed much of the terrorism he promotes is speeding the break-up of Iraq. And now this:

Powerful Shiâ'ite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr came out fiercely against federalism yesterday a day after a leading Shiâ'ite politician said Iraq should be split into semi-autonomous regions based on sect and ethnicity . . . .

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Sadr meets lieutenants

Agence France-Presse - 28 May, 2007
Radical Iraqi cleric Muqtada Al Sadr met his top lieutenants yesterday to discuss a new direction for his movement after his return to public life following a mysterious seven-month disappearance. The meeting was designed to push Sadr's plan to create a more positive public face for his Shi’ite movement, a spokesman said, briefing reporters after the conference in Sadr's headquarters in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

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Who is Muqtada al-Sadr?

In a week in which rumours have been flying about Sadr's decamping to greater safety in Iran, Patrick Cockburn analyses his importance to the future of Iraq

As Iraq dissolves into civil war, few men wield more power on its bloodstained streets than Muqtada al-Sadr. In just four years, his potent blend of Shia nationalism, enforced by the 70,000-strong Mehdi Army, has made him a hero to millions - and put him top of America's hit list. But does the future rest in his hands? Patrick Cockburn reports

Whatever else the US intended when it invaded Iraq in 2003 it was not to hand power to an Islamic militant in a black turban with dark staring eyes who denounces Washington and Israel in the same breath. The claim by two American officials yesterday that Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia nationalist cleric, has left for Iran is a measure of how far the US would like to see him out of the Iraqi political scene.

Allegations by US officials in Baghdad have little credibility after almost four years in which they have been repeatedly exposed as untrue. Supporters of Muqtada immediately denied that he was in Iran and either refused to say where he was or asserted that he was in the Shia holy city of Najaf. He has every reason to keep his location a secret, since in the past the US military has said it will either kill or capture him if it can. Two of his most important aides have been killed in mysterious circumstances in the past week.

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