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Backers Flock to See Returned Iraqi Cleric
[Asharq al-Aswat] Hundreds of supporters
Hundreds? A pathetic turn-out for a man who once had a following numbering many thousands.
on Thursday thronged the home of radical Shiite holy man Moqtada Tater al-Sadr,
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010...
 who has returned to Iraq after nearly four years in self-imposed exile in Iran.

The firebrand populist whose bully boyz battled American and Iraqi forces left Iraq in 2007 seen more as a powerful but unpredictable leader of a street-fighting organization but returned Wednesday as a legitimate political figure heading an organized movement that is a key partner in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's new government.

A swarm of al-Sadr's bodyguards -- dressed in black clothes and flak jackets and toting automatic rifles -- deployed around his house in the al-Hanana neighborhood in central Najaf where followers were waiting to meet him.

One of the youngest among those gathered outside al-Sadr's house was nine-year-old Mohammed Sadiq, who was accompanied by his uncle. "I'd like to kiss his hands and tell him: I miss you and don't leave us again," said Sadiq.

Supporters hung banners on nearby buildings, one of which read: "Yes, Yes to our leader. Here we are at your service our Master Moqtada." Another banner said: "We renew our allegiance to our leader Moqtada al-Sadr."

The holy man was believed to be meeting with Iraq's most revered Shiite figure, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, on Thursday but the meeting could not be confirmed.

Al-Sadr has legions of followers
Only a few hundred of whom turned out to welcome him home. Fair weather friends, most of them.
among Iraq's downtrodden Shiite masses who see him as a champion of their rights against both the Sunnis who dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein and other Shiite political parties such as al-Maliki's Dawa party, which represents more of the Shiite middle class.
Posted by: Fred 2011-01-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=313366