RADICAL CLERIC Muqtada al-Sadr addressed 20,000 supporters crammed into the narrow streets of the Shia holy city of Najaf on Saturday, calling for an end to the US occupation and seeking electricity, water and jobs for the people, and national unity.
Speaking for the first time since his return to Iraq last week after nearly four years’ absence in Iran, Mr Sadr declared: “We are still resisters, and we are still resisting the occupier militarily and culturally and by all means of resistance. Repeat after me: No, no, to the occupier. Let’s have all the world hear that the Iraqi people reject the occupier.”
The throng replied, “Down, down, America!” However, he did not urge all Iraqis to take up arms against the US.
He asserted, “Resistance, yes, resistance, but not everyone will carry weapons. Only those qualified will carry weapons.”
Just one small Sadrist paramilitary formation, the Promised Day Brigade, is permitted to conduct operations and only against US forces, now numbering 48,000.
By playing the popular anti-occupation card, Mr Sadr made it clear he would not continue to back prime minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government if it agreed to allow US forces to remain in Iraq beyond the end of 2011.
Mr Sadr withdrew from Mr Maliki’s first government in 2007 when he refused to set a deadline for the departure of US troops.
Mr Sadr also called on Iraqis to back the new government. “If it serves the people, providing security, safety and services, then we are with this government, not opposed to it,” he stated.
Mr Sadr ended Iraq’s post-election political crisis when, in October, he agreed, under strong Iranian pressure, to back Mr Maliki’s bid to form a cabinet.
Until then, he had refused to support Mr Maliki who, in 2008, ordered US and Iraqi forces to crush the Sadrist militia in the south and Baghdad.
Once the Sadrists were on board, the Kurds joined the coalition, giving Mr Maliki a majority in the 325-member assembly. He is, however, being sharply criticised by Sadrists – who received eight posts – for not giving them any of the senior ministries.
Mr Sadr called for national unity, asking Iraqis to move beyond the slayings, torture and sectarian cleansing of Sunnis by members of his militia during 2006-2007. He asserted, “If any conflict happened between brothers, let us forget this page and turn it over forever and let us live united. We have had enough fighting.”
This may be difficult for tens of thousands of Iraqis to digest, particularly since Sadrist militiamen have been released as part of the coalition deal and have begun to persecute those who do not conform to the strict tenets of their code or have engaged in inter-factional fighting.
During his address, Mr Sadr appealed to his followers: “If you want me close to you, I don’t want any complaints about you, neither from the Iraqi people nor from people other than Iraqis.”
Mr Sadr is the sole Iraqi Shia leader who remained in the country during the period of Baathist rule. The others, including Mr Maliki, lived in exile in Tehran, Damascus or London.
Before his sojourn in Iran – where he was said to be upgrading his clerical credentials – he opposed Tehran’s growing influence in Iraq as well as the US occupation.
An Iraqi nationalist, he rejected the creation of a Shia autonomous region in the south similar to the Kurdish region in the north.
He also condemned the Kurds’ ambition to annex to their region strategic territory in adjacent Arab majority provinces and can be expected to bolster Mr Maliki’s own opposition to such an eventuality.
