The Sadr matter:Iraq plays down Sadr's 'short visit' to Iran by Sabah Jerges
Thu Feb 15, 7:55 AM ET
Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is on a short trip to Iran, an Iraqi official has said, denying that the anti-US firebrand had fled a crackdown on militias such as his feared Mahdi Army.
Sadr will be back in Iraq soon, said Sami al-Askari Thursday, an aide to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, confirming a disputed claim by the US military but criticizing the Americans for stirring up controversy.
"According to my information he is in Iran on a short visit," said Askari, who is a member of parliament and one of Maliki's political advisers. "He has visited Iran many times. It is normal."
Sadr's supporters denied an announcement by the US military in Iraq that the hardline Shiite leader had left for Tehran at some point last month.
Askari expressed surprise that Sadr's movement, a key element in Maliki's ruling coalition, would have denied the report and warned they were playing into the hands of the US military's "unjustifiable provocation".
The official said Sadr has "an official invitation" to visit Iran.
Asked why the Americans would have made a point of revealing Sadr's visit, Askari said: "They tried to put it in the wrong context. Why should they try to provoke the Sadrists? Sometimes wisdom quits the mind of the Americans."
On Wednesday, US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell confirmed media reports that the firebrand cleric had gone to Tehran, igniting rumours that he had fled an impending crackdown on the Mahdi Army.
The Iranian government condemned the US statement as a provocation, but would not explicitly confirm or deny whether Sadr was on its territory.
"It's part of the psychological war that the United States has been waging against the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Mohammad Ali Hosseini, spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry.
"For a while now, the Americans have been attempting to exploit the question of Moqtada al-Sadr to disguise their failure in Iraq," he told AFP.
Iraqi and US forces have launched a large and growing operation in and around Baghdad to root out the illegal armed groups fighting in a vicious sectarian war between rival Sunni and Shiite factions.
Only five bodies were found in Baghdad overnight, an extremely low number by the capital's gruesome standards and an indication that supposed Shiite death squads had their hands full dealing with the crackdown.
Iraq special forces backed by military advisers from the US-led coalition killed one and arrested several members of a "rogue" Mahdi Army cell in Al-Mashru, southeast of Baghdad, a US military statement said.
The group is alleged to have carried out bomb attacks, "sectarian kidnapping and murder of Iraqi civilians as well as the assassination of several Iraqi policemen," the statement said.
Sadr is a fierce opponent of the United States and the Mahdi Army -- a loosely organized force that may not be entirely under his control -- has been branded the worst threat to Iraqi stability by the Pentagon.
Nevertheless, Maliki maintains close ties to Sadr and relies on the votes of his movement to maintain a parliamentary majority. The Iraqi prime minister has insisted that no one movement is the target of the plan.
The cleric's own supporters added to the confusion by denying the alleged visit, and continued to do so on Thursday.
Bassem al-Aathari, an official at Sadr's office in the holy city of Najaf, said: "I want to reaffirm, once again, that Moqtada al-Sadr is in Iraq and specifically in Najaf. He has not left the country.
"He may even lead Friday prayers tomorrow in Kufa, to disprove these rumours," he declared, referring to a town in Sadr's fief outside Najaf.
Askari dismissed such talk. "The denial by the Sadr people helps the Americans. Why should they deny that? This is incorrect."
And he expressed doubt that Sadr would be able to attend the Kufa mosque by Friday. "I don't think he would come back that quickly," he said.
Iraq's land borders with Iran and Syria were closed on Tuesday and were to remain closed until at least Friday.
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