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Sadr hangs it up
Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr sent his fighters home on Wednesday in what may mark the end of a 10-week revolt against U.S.-led forces that once engulfed southern Iraq and Shi’ite Islam’s holiest shrines. With the formal end of U.S.-led occupation just two weeks away, Sadr issued a statement from his base in Najaf calling on his Mehdi Army militiamen to go home. "Each of the individuals of the Mehdi Army, the loyalists who made sacrifices...should return to their governorates to do their duty," the statement said.
Other reports say he only told those who didn't live in Najaf to go home, gives him a cover story if they don't leave.
That call came a day after President Bush said the United States would not oppose a political role for Sadr -- only weeks after branding him an anti-democratic thug. Sadr’s office sent a letter to the Shi’ite religious establishment on Wednesday, saying Iraqi police would be welcome back in his stronghold of Kufa, near Najaf, where he has frequently delivered fiery anti-American sermons. Some U.S. officials insist Sadr must face Iraqi justice in connection with the killing of a moderate cleric hacked to death in a Najaf shrine soon after last year’s U.S. invasion. But Sadr’s unexpected flexibility seems to have opened political doors just before planned June 30 handover. Interim President Ghazi al-Yawar said Sadr’s "smart move" could enable him to take part in mainstream politics. Under a deal announced by the interim government this month, private militias are to be disbanded and members of illegal militias banned from political office for three years.

Despite Bush’s olive branch for Sadr, some U.S. officials say Sadr should be barred from politics. "There is an Iraqi arrest warrant issued against Moqtada al-Sadr that ties him to a brutal murder, and I don’t see how he would be eligible for political office before that matter is resolved," U.S. spokesman Dan Senor said on Tuesday. National elections are due to be held by January 31 under a U.S.-backed plan for Iraq’s political transition. As Iraqi leaders brace for the challenge of running a country suffering from violence and economic hardships, it seems Sadr may keep the interim government guessing. "Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr enters into political matters. But this does not mean he will enter elections," Sadr’s spokesman Qais al-Khazali told Reuters on Wednesday. "Our position is clear, Sadr’s entry into politics will not be direct but we have ideas...There are no nominees or names suggested."
Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-06-16
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=35630