Los Angeles Times
December 23, 2006
NAJAF, Iraq —
One of Iraq's most influential Shiite clerics has rejected a U.S.-backed proposal to isolate Shiite extremists in the national government, saying Iraq should govern and police itself with the help of anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada Sadr, according to those who spoke to him today.
Shiite politicians who met with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and then Sadr in this holy Shiite city said they had thrown their support behind Sadr, who is calling for U.S. troops to withdraw.
"The Sadr movement is part of Iraqi affairs," said Haider Abadi, a leader of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Dawa party. "We won't allow others to interfere to weaken any Iraqi political movement."
Ali Adeeb, another member of the Dawa party, said Shiite leaders, including the prime minister, will resist U.S. efforts to block Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.
"The Iraqi government decides what it thinks is necessary for the interest of the political process," he said, adding that, "We consider the participation of the Mahdi Army or Sadr movement in the political process and their obligation to the law, their harmony with the government, a very essential issue in order to push things in a better direction."
Shiite moderates have been trying to build a new coalition with Kurds and Sunnis that would sideline Sadr and his militia. Police say the militia was involved in a bloody clash with police in the southern city of Samawa today and Friday that left five people dead.
The U.S. recently labeled Mahdi Army the top terrorist threat in Iraq.
Word that Sistani might not support any new moderate, U.S.-endorsed coalition contradicted U.S. embassy rumors and published reports, and came as President Bush met with new Defense Secretary Robert Gates to discuss Iraq strategy.
Military officials say Bush's plan will likely include a "surge" of thousands of troops in addition to the 140,000 already here, a move vehemently opposed by Sadr, who demands a U.S. withdrawal.
Sistani also opposes the U.S. presence and maintains Iraqis know how best to govern their emerging state, Abadi said.
Abadi said the cleric told him, "Iraqis must get their sovereignty as soon as possible. No Iraqis want foreign troops on his land for a long period. Therefore, the government should be strengthened."
Shiite politicians often meet with Sistani and spin his words to fit their political agendas. Most of the people at the meeting with Sistani today were members of the Dawa Party, which is close to the Sadr bloc.
An official from a rival party in the Shiite coalition, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said today's meeting was about reinforcing Shiite unity and didn't touch upon the proposal to forge a new bloc. Officials from that party said they would welcome Sadr back into the Shiite fold.
"[Sistani said that the important thing is for the [Shiite] bloc do some house-cleaning," said Adnan Obeidi, a member of the Supreme Council.
Sadr reportedly said the 30 or so members of his party who have suspended their participation in the national government will not return until fellow Shiite politicians join his call for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Abadi said the group is still in negotiations but that, "the brothers in the Sadr bloc ¼ are on their way back to the government."
Sadr supporters who had previously agreed to disarm were fighting police in Samawa, 120 miles south of the capital. After militia members killed two police related to a local tribe, tribesmen joined the fight, sending gunmen into the streets and occupying the Sadr party office, police and tribesmen said.
Police in southern Iraq are generally loyal to a rival political bloc led by Abdul Aziz Hakim's Supreme Council, which is engaged in a long feud with the Sadr loyalists.
molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com
Staff writer Hennessy-Fiske reported from Baghdad and special correspondent Fakhrildeen from Najaf. Special correspondents in Amara, Baghdad, Hillah, Kirkuk and Samawa contributed to this report.