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Iraq
What drives the withdrawal of Muqtada al-Sadr's followers from the Green Zone?
2022-09-03
[SHAFAQ] Iraq's long-running power struggle between rival Shiite camps devolved into bloody street violence this week in a culmination of months of simmering tensions and a political vacuum.

For 24 hours, loyalists of powerful holy man Moqtada Tater al-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...
 transformed the theater of their peaceful protests in Baghdad's ultra-secure Green Zone into a front line, trading fire with security forces and rival paramilitary groups, and bringing the capital to a standstill.

Just as quickly, with a single word -"withdraw"- from the holy man in a speech, the fighting came to a stop. Immediately, his supporters put down their weapons and left.

Following his calls for withdrawal, Iraqi leaders, including the caretaker premier, expressed their thanks to al-Sadr and praised his restraint. The Joint Operations Command reversed the total curfew it declared in the aftermath of the bloody confrontations.

It was a powerful message to al-Sadr's Iran-backed rivals and the political elite of the holy man's enduring power over his hundreds of thousands of followers and an equally alarming example of the damage they are capable of doing to the embattled country.

Al-Sadr has long derived his political influence from his ability to both command his mass following to destabilize the street, and just as quickly bring them into line. His announcement that he would exit politics showed the Iraqis what could happen when that voice of restraint is taken away: chaos, devastation, and death; which makes his objectives and unorthodox tactics hard to ignore.

Decisive intervention

"We must tip our hats off to Moqtada al-Sadr's decision to stop the violence in the country; his discontent with the infighting will go down the chronicles of history," politician Ali Abdul-Sattar said in a statement to Shafaq News Agency.

"None of the political forces have expected that the Sadrist bloc, led by al-Sadr, would pursue such a moderate discourse," he said.

"[Al-Sadr] said 'I hang my head'. We ask him to lift his head high for what he has given to the country and the people," Abdul-Sattar added, "this proves that the unity of the Iraqi people was and will continue to engender from Iraqi Arab origins and Iraqi leadership. These are messages of reassurance to the Iraqi people."

"The decision to withdraw did not imply that it was preceded negotiation," he explained, "of course, there were contacts between the leaders, especially the religious ones... The solution was only in the hands of two figures, al-Sadr himself and the top religious authority. I believe that the intervention of some religious sides is what brought the situation to a conclusion."

Al-Sadr's party, the Sadrist Bloc, won the most seats in an October 2021 election, but he ordered his politicians to resign en-masse in June after he failed to form a government of his choosing, which would have excluded powerful Shite rivals close to Iran.

The move, however, handed the sway in parliament to his Iran-backed Shiite opponents, the Coordination Framework. Many of al-Sadr's supporters have since the end of July been participating in a sit-in outside the Iraqi parliament, after storming the building and stopping al-Sadr's rivals from appointing a new president and prime minister.

Guarantees

Kitab al-Meezan, a political analyst, believes that "Moqtada al-Sadr's decision to evacuate his supporters from the Green Zone was made only after obtaining guarantees that the parliament will be dissolved."

To support this claim, al-Meezan adduced the Federal Court's decision to defer the ruling on an appeal to dissolve the Iraqi parliament "until a comprehensive agreement with al-Sadr is reached."

"I believe that this, in addition to enacting a law on al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF) and the disbanding of the armed factions, is sufficient for al-Sadr to command his supporters to withdraw," he added.

On September 1st, Iraq's Supreme Federal Court adjourned, for a third time, a session dedicated to adjudicating an appeal lodged by the Secretary-General of the Sadrist bloc, Nassar al-Rubaie, to dissolve the Iraqi parliament. Instead, a session is scheduled for September 7th, a judicial source told Shafaq News Agency.

Inconsistency and vagueness

Political analyst Najm Obeid ascribed al-Sadr's maneuvers as "inconsistent" and "vague", judging what, in his opinion, is a fluctuation in the political tactics of the maverick leader throughout the timeline of Iraq's longest run without a government since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country.

"At the beginning of the Green Zone sit-in, he called for overhauling the entire political system and dismantling the political process in the country. Those demands later regressed to dissolving the parliament and holding an early election," Obeid said, "shortly afterward, al-Sadr demanded the formation of a government that excludes both the Sadrist movement and the State of Law alliance. Then, he lashed out at the Supreme Judicial Council and appealed for the dissolution of the legislature by the Federal Court."

"On August 29th alone, he made two announcements: the first was his political retirement, and the second was a hunger strike. On August 30th, he decided to protest against his own followers," he added.

"The recent protests backlashed. They were poorly controlled and did not tantamount to the level of the October protests that were more peaceful and showed respect to the state institutions. The latter, on the contrary, disrupted the work of the Iraqi legislative body for a month," he concluded.

Major revolution

Obeid warned that "the poor management of the state and failure to meet the people's aspirations might result in a major Iraqi revolution that would spare no party."

"Many non-Sadrist citizens joined the protests of the Sadrists against parties that have failed to meet the expectations," he added, "those who did not participate in the Sadrist protests demand a peaceful revolution. However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt...
 if their peacefulness was met by oppression, they will respond equally and proportionally."

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Iraq
Sadr dissolves own political party following withdrawal from elections
2021-07-17
”Pay attention to MEEEEEE!!!“
[Rudaw] The leader of the Sadrist movement and Shiite holy man Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
...hereditary Iraqi holy man and leader of a political movement in Iraq. He had his hereditary rival, al-Khoei, assassinated only a few hours 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...
, decided on Thursday to close the political body of the Sadrist movement, hours after he announced his withdrawal from the upcoming elections.

A document issued by the private office of the Sadr movement in Najaf stated that "in view of the current circumstances and in the interest of the people and the country, it was decided to dissolve the political party."

Sadr’s announcement comes three months ahead of the parliamentary election and days after a deadly fire swept through a coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
 ward at a Nasiriyah hospital, killing dozens and igniting public anger against the government.

The statement also included that Sadr appointed Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the political body, and his deputy, Muhammad al-Mawsili, as his advisors.

Sadr does not hold an elected position himself, but he leads the Sairoon coalition, parliament’s largest bloc. He was among the first people to speak up in January when the election was postponed from June 6 to October 10, saying he would not accept any further delay.

"I will not allow another postponement of the elections as long as I live," he said at the time.

This is not the first time that Sadr has announced his boycott of the elections, his retirement from "political life" and the closure of the political arm of his movement. This happened in 2014, according to a statement by al Sadr back then saying, "I declare that I will not interfere in any political matters and that no bloc represents us anymore."

Sadr also froze his bloc in Parliament in 2016, and before that, he withdrew all his ministers from the government in 2013, however, the controversial leader retracted those decisions shortly after.

Sadr has been a vocal supporter of reform and anti-corruption campaigns for years. When anti-government protests broke out in October 2019, he sent members of his militia forces, the Peace Brigades to protect the demonstrators. However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
 Sadr changed his position and by February 2020, his militias were involved in violence against protests.
Related:
Moqtada Tater al-Sadr: 2021-07-06 Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr will not die, and he will not be martyred, Iraqi deputy says
Moqtada Tater al-Sadr: 2021-07-05 Al-Sadr: my death will revive the Sadr movement
Moqtada Tater al-Sadr: 2021-05-23 Cometh the hour, cometh Muqtada Al-Sadr
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Iraq
Tater Facing "Increasing Pressures" to Support Al-Maliki- Sources
2010-08-26
[Asharq al-Aswat] Hezbollah has denied any knowledge that leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr might settle permanently in Lebanon. A Hezbollah source told Asharq Al-Awsat, "Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr or any of his close associates have not informed the Hezbollah leadership of his intention to move to Lebanon."

A Lebanese Foreign Ministry source also has affirmed, "The Foreign Ministry has not received any notice in this respect, neither from the Iraqi authorities nor from Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, at least until now."

A leader in the Iraqi National Coalition had revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Iran is exerting "increasing pressures" on the leaders of the National Coalition, Ammar al-Hakim and Muqtada Al-Sadr, and that the latter threatened that he might have to leave Iran and settle in Lebanon because of these pressures.

Meanwhile, Nassar al-Rubaie, a Sadrist movement leader, has affirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Al-Sadr's departure from Iran was "up to him personally," adding, "We have no news that he might settle in Lebanon, but his return to Iraq is a natural matter and more feasible."

According to informed sources, Al-Sadr is currently in the "external research" stage in his studies to obtain the Ijtihad level under Iraqi Religious Authority Ayatollah Mahmud al-Hashimi. The external research stage is the final stage in the studies at the Shiite seminary. The student submits his research to the religious authority, who in turn, goes over the research carefully, and when the religious authority is satisfied with the work, he grants the student the level of Ijtihad.

Regarding the Iranian pressures on Al-Sadr to support the candidacy of Al-Maliki for a second term, the sources affirmed, "There is much pressure from two high-level Iranian sources on Al-Sadr. The first is the Iranian Government and the second from the Qom religious authorities. They are pressuring him to accept the candidacy of Al-Maliki. But Al-Sadr has strongly rejected these pressures, because he thinks that the decision should be made by the Iraqis and that all the Iraqi forces have agreed not to support Al-Maliki's candidacy for a second term." But the sources explained, "Iranian pressures on Al-Sadr could force him to leave Iran." The sources revealed, "Religious Authority Sayyid Kazim al-Hairi [Iraqi Shiite leader living in Iran] visited Al-Sadr several weeks ago to learn the reasons for his objection to Al-Maliki's candidacy for a second term," and that Al-Ha'iri "could not convince Al-Sadr to accept Al-Maliki's candidacy."

It should be noted that Al-Hairi became a source of emulation to the followers of the Sadrist movement after the departure of Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr.
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Iraq
Sadrists to Veto Second al-Maliki Term - Sources
2010-03-30
[Asharq al-Aswat] The Sadrist trend and its leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, who remains in Tehran, are currently being courted by Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc and Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, as both sides attempt to form a majority government. Delegations from the Iraqiya bloc and the State of Law coalition arrived in Tehran to meet with al-Sadr.

Prior to this, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and Vice President Adil Abdul Mahdi, both visited Iran on the eve of the election results, although it was announced that this visit came at the invitation of the Iranian government, and was an invitation for the Kurdish President and Shiite Vice President to participate in the Iranian Nowruz celebrations.

Sources informed Asharq Al-Awsat that negotiations with the Sadrist trend began before delegations were sent to Iran, and that Karar al-Khafaji, Chief of the Political Committee of the Sadrist Trend, met with a delegation from the State of Law coalition, and has been in communication with the Iraqiya bloc.

The Sadrist trend is a member of the Shiite National Iraqi Alliance, which won a total of 70 parliamentary seats at the recent Iraqi elections; however the Sadrist trend won 39 of these seats making it by far the most influential party in this alliance.

Senior sources within the Sadrist trend revealed that it is being represented by Qusay al-Suhail in the talks that are taking place in Tehran. Al-Suhail was the Sadrist Prime Ministerial candidate, and is a prominent figure in the trend. As for the State of Law coalition, it has sent Ali al-Adeeb, a senior member of the Dawa Party to negotiate on behalf of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The second State of Law coalition negotiator is former First Deputy Speaker of the Council of Representatives Sheikh Khalid al-Attiya, although it is not known whether Sheikh al-Attiyia traveled to Tehran with Adeeb, or whether he remains in Iraq. Sources indicate that the Sadrists have so far been successful in managing the negotiation file.

A senior member of the Sadrist trend, Nassar al-Rubaie, confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Sadrist trend is not vetoing any prime ministerial candidate. However, senior officials close to al-Sadr contradicted this, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that there is a red line with regards to al-Maliki and that at this stage the Shiite alliance "is more important than names." The sources say that the National Iraqi Alliance is capable of choosing a replacement for al-Maliki "for the ultimate goal."

With regards to the National Iraqi Alliance, the Sadrist leadership confirmed that there are certain pre-requisites that cannot be compromised or put aside. One senior Sadrist official who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity said that "the pre-requisites [for forming a majority government] are national partnership in the management of the state, developing institutes on the basis of competence and moving away from quotas and favoritism, and respecting facts and not marginalizing others."

For his part, Mohamed al-Bahadli, al-Sadr's chief representative in southern Iraq, told Asharq Al-Awsat that "dialogue between the victorious blocs and the others has begun, and everybody knows that we are not with any component or against any component, we are with everybody in order to establish a partnership government."

He added "we do not want to fall into the same mistakes that occurred in the past and which cost the Iraqi people a lot, today we are working to resolve all of these errors through dialogue and developing mechanisms to ensure the political process in a way that puts Iraq at the forefront."

While the Shiite movements have turned their attention to Tehran, Baghdad, and Najaf, the Sunni leadership are holding meetings and communicating [in order to form a majority government]. Leader of the Iraqi Accord Front, Iyad al-Samarrai, met with three senior Iraqiya bloc figures in the past 48 hours. Al-Samarrai met with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Rafi al-Issawi, the leader of the Tajdid List Tariq al-Hashimi, as well as Osama Nujaifi.
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Iraq
Sadrists want referendum on US-Iraq pact
2008-05-31
AP - Loyalists of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Iraqi government Saturday to hold a public referendum on a long-term security deal with the United States. Widespread opposition to the deal has raised doubts that negotiators can meet a July target to finalize a pact to keep U.S. troops in Iraq after the current U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.
Widespread? A few chicken$hit Sadrists? Am I wrong to think this way?
The U.S. military, meanwhile, said an American Marine died Friday in a non-combat related incident in Iraq, pushing the number of Americans killed this month to 21 as May draws to a close. While the number is not final, it would be the lowest monthly death toll since February 2004, when 20 troops died, according to an Associated Press tally based on military figures.

The Iraqi monthly toll also was down, with 516 violent deaths reported to the AP by police and other officials, the lowest since 375 were killed in December 2005.

Senior Sadrists, including lawmakers Falah Hassan Shanshal and Maha Adel al-Douri, met in the cleric's Sadr City office in Baghdad and issued a statement calling on the Iraqi government to stop negotiations with the U.S. and to hold a public referendum on the issue. Al-Sadr, the hardline Shiite cleric and militia leader whose Mahdi Army battled American troops in Baghdad's Sadr City district until a truce this month, also has called for a referendum along with weekly protests against the deal. And, opposition has been growing among other groups.

U.S. and Iraqi officials began negotiations in March on a blueprint for the long-term security agreement and a second deal, to establish the legal basis for U.S. troops to remain in the country after a U.N. mandate runs out. Few details have been released about the talks.

Although U.S. officials insist they are not seeking permanent bases, suspicion runs deep among many Iraqis that the Americans want to keep at least some troops in the country for many years.
Well yes, we'd like to, since the long-term goal is that Iraq starts to look a lot like South Korea, Japan and Germany -- democratic, strong, contributing to the world, and each with its own unique culture. The American presence in each one helped make that happen, and I suspect an American presence would do the same in Iraq.
The U.S. military has continued to target what it calls Iranian-backed Shiite militia factions, warning key leaders have fled to other areas as American and Iraqi forces closed in on them in Sadr City. American troops acting on tips in eastern Baghdad on Saturday captured a suspect believed to be a key assistant to one of the fugitive militia leaders, according to a military statement. The man captured was accused of kidnapping and managing funds for the so-called special groups.

Tensions also rose when Nassar al-Rubaie, the leader of the Sadrist bloc in parliament, was stopped at a police checkpoint outside Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad. The six-car convoy, en route from Basra to the holy city of Najaf, was held up for nearly two hours without explanation, al-Rubaie told AP in a telephone interview. He called for the government to stop harassing Sadrists and put those responsible on trial.
"Don't you know who I am?!?!"
Police Col. Asaad Ali, the director of the Diwaniyah operations center, said police stopped the convoy because gunmen are not allowed in the city and al-Rubaie was protected by armed guards. He said a patrol was sent to safely escort the convoy on its way out of the province.

Separately, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner expressed renewed commitment to helping the Iraqis rebuild as he made his second visit to the wartorn country in less than a year.
Considered canceling their debt? But who knows. It might be better to make them work for it.
Frenchies still want a piece of the oil pie ...
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Iraq
Tater's followers grimace fearsomely, make blood-curdling threats
2008-04-22
Anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement is "ready for all options" in a growing confrontation between his followers and the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a spokesman said Monday.

Nassar al-Rubaie said the rival parties that dominate Iraq's government failed to meet conditions al-Sadr laid down in his March 30 declaration that temporarily halted fighting between Shiite militias and government forces in the southern city of Basra.

He said responses from members of the United Iraqi Alliance who have served as mediators in the confrontation have not met "the level of seriousness required by the Sadrists."

"We reviewed reactions to Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr's latest statement, and we are ready for all options," said al-Rubaie, one of the 30 Sadrist lawmakers in Iraq's 275-member parliament.

Al-Sadr ordered his fighters in Basra to stand down and cooperate with government forces in the March 30 declaration, but called on the government to free non-convicted prisoners from his movement, stop what he called "illegal" raids on his followers and launch new public works projects across the country.

The warning comes amid renewed clashes between government troops and police and al-Sadr's followers south of Baghdad. Saturday, al-Sadr issued what he called a last warning to the government and told his followers to fight the "occupier" in his Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City.

Al-Maliki's government has called on the cleric to disband his militia, the Mehdi Army, or see his supporters barred from public office. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh warned Sunday that "Iraq cannot be the new Somalia," with armed groups overshadowing its politics.

But al-Sadr's followers say the government's U.S.-backed crackdown on militia fighters in Basra and Baghdad is an effort to weaken the cleric's movement ahead of provincial elections scheduled for August. Sadrist lawmaker Fawzi Tarzi said Sunday that calls to disband the Mehdi Army "will mean the end of al-Maliki's government."
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Iraq
Iraqi leaders call for militias to disband
2008-04-06
Iraq's political leadership on Saturday called on all parties to disband their militias before provincial elections this year, an apparent attempt to isolate the populist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The political council of national security, which comprises the president, the prime minister and the heads of political blocs in parliament, issued a 15-point statement at a late night news conference in Baghdad.

It came after fighting last week between Iraqi security forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army militia killed hundreds of people in southern Iraq and Baghdad.

A key demand in the statement was for all parties and political blocs to dissolve their militias immediately and hand in their weapons. The statement did not mention any militias by name, but Sadr appeared to be the target. "They should shift to civilian activities as a precondition for taking part in the political process and the next elections," said the statement, read out at the news conference which was chaired by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd.

The political council said it would stand firmly with the Shi'ite-led government in any confrontation with militias. Sadr's movement holds 30 seats in the 275-member parliament. Talabani said all members of the council had agreed to the 15-point statement except for the Sadrists. Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the Sadrist bloc in parliament, said the statement was an attempt to corner the Sadrist faction.
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Iraq
Some Sunni Muslims won't salute Iraq's new flag
2008-01-26
Officials in Iraq's mostly Sunni Muslim Anbar province are refusing to raise Iraq's new national flag, which the parliament approved earlier this week. "The new flag is done for a foreign agenda and we won't raise it," said Ali Hatem al Suleiman , a leading member of the U.S.-backed Anbar Awakening Council, "If they want to force us to raise it, we will leave the yard for them to fight al Qaida."

The dispute over the flag is a more accurate symbol of Iraq today than the flag itself is. "On nothing we are completely united," said Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish lawmaker.

Although parliament speaker Mahmoud al Mashhadani said the new flag would be raised immediately across Iraq after the parliament approved it Tuesday, it is nowhere to be seen. In fact, when the parliament met Wednesday, the old flag was still behind the speaker and his two deputies.

While the Anbar Awakening Council vowed never to raise the new flag, U.S.-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki praised the council for standing against al Qaida in Iraq. In a speech in Karbala, Maliki also pledged a new fight against Sunni militants in Ninevah province, where at least 40 people were killed in a bombing this week and a suicide bomber killed the police chief.

Suleiman of the Anbar Awakening Council, however, said he was angry that the parliament and government toiled away on a new flag rather than dealing with the country's lack of services.

Many Iraqis, including some lawmakers who rejected the flag, were angered at what they considered a change to the flag in order to please the Kurdish north and its president, Massoud Barzani. "We don't want to handle the problem of the Kurdistan region by causing problems with other regions that might refuse the new flag," said Nassar al Rubaie, the head of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr's bloc in parliament, who voted against the new flag.

The new flag is temporary. According to Iraq's Constitution, the parliament must pass a new law that issues a permanent flag and a national anthem.

Othman, the Kurdish lawmaker, said he expected people to reject the latest change in the flag but hoped that when a new, permanent flag was chosen, people would salute it. "Just as the Kurds were not raising the flag all these years, others also will not raise the new flag," he said. "I hope with time it will ease away, and I think everyone should look forward to the permanent flag."
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Iraq
Sadr MP wants dissolution of Iraqi parliament
2007-11-14
A top parliamentarian from radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s political bloc on Tuesday called for the dissolution of Iraq’s parliament and the holding of fresh legislative elections.

“If the parliament continues to work the way it is, it will be an obstacle to democracy. I demand that President Jalal Talabani dissolves the parliament and holds fresh elections,” Baha al-Aaraji, spokesman for the 32-member Sadr parliamentary bloc, told reporters. “This parliament is a source of worry to the Iraqi people. The sectarian differences are evident among the parliament’s members and that is affecting the people,” he said. Aaraji said the differences were causing the delay of key legislation such as the oil law and the de-Baathification law.

Not representing aspirations: Stressing that he was expressing his personal views and not those of the bloc, Aaraji said parliament was “not representing the aspirations of the Iraqi people.

“The oil law for example has many negatives but 70 percent of the law is aimed at serving the people. But some groups have taken the decision to reject the law. There is no discussion on this,” he said. “We have to discuss and see what benefits the people and then iron out the negatives.”

The bill opens up the long state-dominated oil and gas sector to foreign investment and provides assurances that receipts will be shared equally between Iraq’s 18 provinces, a measure Washington regards as key to efforts to reconcile the country’s divided communities. Aaraji said the de-Baathification bill, which will reverse a prohibition on former members of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein’s Baath party holding public office, is also being held up in parliament. “There should be a proper judicial criteria. Not all Baathists are criminals. There are some Saddamists who should be held accountable. But this law has become a means to politicise the issue,” he said.

Nassar al-Rubaie, the head of the Sadr bloc in the parliament, said Aaraji was “expressing his personal views. He is not representing the official position of the bloc.”

The Sadr bloc on September 15 withdrew its 32 MPs from the Shiite coalition heading Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s national unity government in Baghdad.

While it stressed it had no intention of pushing Maliki out of his job, it accused him of failing to consult the bloc over decisions affecting the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) coalition.
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Iraq
Iraqi bill demands U.S. troops withdraw
2007-05-10
A majority of Iraqi lawmakers have endorsed a bill calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and demanding a freeze on the number of foreign troops already in the country, lawmakers said Thursday. The legislation was being debated even as U.S. lawmakers were locked in a dispute with the White House over their call to start reducing the size of the U.S. force here in the coming months.

The Iraqi bill, drafted by a parliamentary bloc loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was signed by 144 members of the 275-member house, according to Nassar al-Rubaie, the leader of the Sadrist bloc. The Sadrist bloc, which sees the U.S.-led forces as an occupying army, has pushed similar bills before, but this was the first time it had garnered the support of a majority of lawmakers.

The bill would require the Iraqi government to seek approval from parliament before it requests an extension of the U.N. mandate for foreign forces to be in Iraq, al-Rubaie said. It also calls for a timetable for the troop withdrawal and a freeze on the size of the foreign forces.

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously in November to extend the U.S.-led forces' mandate until the end of 2007. The resolution, however, said the council "will terminate this mandate earlier if requested by the government of Iraq."

Al-Rubaie said he personally handed the Iraqi bill to speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani on Wednesday.

Deputy Speaker Khaled al-Attiyah told The Associated Press the draft legislation had not been officially submitted to the speaker, but was currently being reviewed by the house's legal department, apparently the final step before it can be submitted. Al-Rubaie said al-Mashhadani had a week to schedule a debate on the bill before he would use the majority that backs it to force a debate.
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Iraq
Tater Tots Quit Government
2007-04-17
The militant Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr withdrew six ministers loyal to him from the Iraqi cabinet on Monday, in the first major shake-up of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government since it was installed a year ago. Legislators working for Mr. Sadr said that Mr. Sadr was withdrawing his ministers from the 38-member cabinet because the Iraqi government had refused to set a timetable for pulling American troops out of the country. The move is the first time Mr. Sadr has followed through with a threat to cut some of his ties with the government and with Mr. Maliki, a conservative Shiite whose grip on authority largely rests on Mr. Sadr’s political support.

Mr. Sadr said he was motivated by Iraqi nationalism, asserting that his action was intended to give the government a chance to appoint new ministers who would not be beholden to any political party or have sectarian agendas. “I ask God to bestow upon the people an independent devoted government to be like a candle in the middle of the dark, away from occupation,” Mr. Sadr said in a statement, which was read at a news conference by Nassar al-Rubaie, a senior Sadr legislator.

The immediate effect of the pullout on the day-to-day work of the government and its ministries is unclear. Mr. Maliki did not announce any replacements on Monday, and the six ministries now controlled by Mr. Sadr could stagnate if Iraq’s various political parties engage in protracted haggling over the new appointments — a common blight of politics here. On the other hand, Mr. Sadr’s ministers are generally seen by Iraqi and American officials as corrupt and incompetent, so replacing them could bring long-term benefits to the ministries. Mr. Maliki has been saying for months that he wants to overhaul his cabinet.

Mr. Maliki said in a statement on Monday that he “welcomes the announcement of his eminence Moktada al-Sadr authorizing him the allocation of the six ministries that are held by Sadr’s bloc.”
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Iraq
JPost: Top aide to Muqtada al-Sadr killed in Iraqi raid
2006-12-27
A top aide to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was killed in a raid by US troops Wednesday in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf, an Iraqi lawmaker said.

The US military, however, said American troops participated in a raid led by Iraqi forces that led to the death of a man with the same name as the aide, Sahib al-Amiri. The military described al-Amiri as a criminal involved in the use of roadside bombs.

Nassar al-Rubaie, the head of al-Sadr's bloc in parliament, said al-Amiri was killed when American forces entered his home at dawn.

"We offer our condolences to the Iraqi people and to the al-Sadr movement for the killing of Sahib al-Amiri, one of al-Sadr's prominent figures," al-Rubaie said. Later Wednesday, mourners carried al-Amiri's coffin, draped in an Iraqi flag, on a funeral procession through downtown Najaf.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fuck off.
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