Tateral-Sadr
...hereditary Iraqi holy man and leader of a political movement in Iraq. He had his hereditary rival al-Khoei assassinated shortly after the holy rival's appearance out of exile in 2003. Formerly an Iranian catspaw, lately he's gagged over some of their more outlandish antics, then went back to catspawry..., Salah al-Obeidi, said that the Shiite Coordination Framework (CF) "smashed" the project of forming an independent government after naming Muhammad Shia al-Sudani for prime minister.
Al-Obaidi said in a statement, "The Frameworks' calls for dialogue are a new attempt to defraud, far from their suggestion to form the next government exclusively from independent figures."
He added, "The Framework forces started scrambling for positions, so they announced al-Sudani as their candidate, a step smashed the project of the independent government with shoes and distributed the positions among them so that the candidate of the doomed (Nuri al-Maliki) would win.
Tensions have worsened since an October election in which al-Sadr's movement emerged as the biggest bloc with 74 of parliament's 329 seats.
After failing to overturn the result in the courts, the Iran-backed factions set about stymying al-Sadr's efforts to form a government that would include his Kurdish and Sunni allies but excludes groups he described as corrupt or loyal to external forces.
Despite their diminished numbers in parliament, the Iran-aligned groups managed to frustrate al-Sadr by denying the two-thirds quorum needed to elect a Kurdish head of state - the first step towards forming a government.
Frustrated at the deadlock, Sadr instructed his politicians to quit parliament in June. The move ceded dozens of seats to the Coordination Framework, meaning it could try to form a government of its choosing, though this would risk al-Sadr's wrath.
Al-Sadr's rivals then floated a candidate, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, seen by al-Sadr's supporters as a Maliki loyalist. This step appears to have been the final straw for Sadr supporters, igniting the protests.
In a statement he issued earlier today, al-Sadr, the arch-foe of the Shiite Coordination Framework, instructed his followers to push for a complete overhaul of the political system, including a new constitution, and expel the country's elites whom he condemned as "corrupt."
In response, the Coordination Framework said it will defend "the legitimacy of the Iraqi state" against Moqtada al-Sadr's calls to "overthrow the state and constitution," calling for mass counter-demonstrations today.
