Sadr reemerges, demands U.S. pullout from Iraq
By Saad Fakhrildeen and Alexandra Zavis
Special to the Times
8:26 AM PDT, May 25, 2007
latimes.com
KUFA, Iraq — Influential cleric Muqtada Sadr resurfaced today after months in hiding and delivered a fiery sermon in this Shiite Muslim holy city in which he reiterated his demand for the swift departure of U.S. forces.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the deaths of six more soldiers.
Sadr's return to a public stage comes at a time when the radical cleric has been building his national profile, capitalizing on the political impasse gripping Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government.
Aides report that Sadr has reached out to Sunni leaders in recent months and purged extremist elements within his own ranks. Last month, he pulled his six ministers out of Maliki's coalition cabinet, but did not withdraw his 30 legislators from the governing Shiite bloc.
Sadr may also want to reassert control over his Mahdi militia, in which divisions have emerged over his order to pull back and avoid a head-on collision with the U.S. military during the ongoing crackdown.
U.S. officials have said that Sadr fled to Iran ahead of the crackdown's launch Feb. 13. But the cleric's followers have insisted that he was in hiding in Iraq.
An emotional crowd surged forward and showered Sadr with candies when he arrived at the western gate of Kufa mosque, surrounded by bodyguards, to deliver the midday sermon for the first time in more than four months.
He began by asking his followers to chant three times: "No to injustice. No to Israel. No to America. No to the devils."
"I renew my request that the occupiers should withdraw or schedule their withdrawal," Sadr said. "The (Iraqi) government should not allow the occupiers to extend their stay in Iraq, not even for one more day."
Word of the latest U.S. deaths came hours after President Bush warned that a bloody summer lay ahead. Military officers in Baghdad predict that insurgents will seek to inflict maximum casualties before the top commander, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, delivers a review of the troop buildup in September.
One soldier was killed by small arms fire and four others died in explosions Thursday in Baghdad and north of the capital, the military said. One of the blasts also killed an Iraqi translator. Another U.S. soldier was killed in an explosion that happened near his vehicle Tuesday in Baghdad province.
The deaths brought the number of U.S. personnel killed in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003 to 3,441, according to the website icasualties.org, which tracks military casualties.
At least 90 U.S. troops have died so far this month, putting May on track to being one of the deadliest months for the U.S. military in Iraq. Last month, 104 soldiers were killed in Iraq, only the sixth time that more than 100 troops were killed in a single month.
zavis@latimes.com
Special correspondent Fakhrildeen reported from Kufa and Times staff writer Zavis reported from Baghdad. |
