Anti-American Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Saturday his followers in Iraq were still resisting the U.S. “enemy” with all means, including military. But he tempered his fiery words by saying the new Iraqi government should be given a chance to get American forces out of the country in a “suitable” way.
In his first speech since returning from almost four years of self-imposed exile in Iran, the 37-year-old cleric whose Shia militias once ruthlessly pursued U.S. troops and terrorised Iraqi Sunnis, stopped short of explicitly urging violence against Americans. But he left open the possibility that some 50,000 U.S. troops set to leave Iraq at the end of this year could be targeted.
“Let the whole world hear that we reject America. No, no to the occupier,” said Mr. Sadr during his 35-minute speech in Najaf, a holy Shia city about 160 km south of Baghdad. “We don't kill Iraqis — our hands do not kill Iraqis. But we target only the occupier with all the means of resistance,” he added.
Mr. Sadr has long branded the U.S. military as occupiers in Iraq, and Washington considers him a security threat. Yet after winning 40 seats in March parliamentary elections — and taking eight top leadership posts in the new government — Mr. Sadr's political muscle makes him a force that cannot be ignored.
Addressing an adoring and frenzied crowd of thousands, Mr. Sadr called the U.S., Israel and Britain “our common enemies”.
“Maybe during the past few days and months, we forgot the resistance and the expelling of the occupier as we were busy with politics,” said Mr. Sadr. “Our aim is to expel the occupier with any means. The resistance does not mean that everyone can carry a weapon. The weapon is only for the people of the weapons.”
A security agreement between Washington and Baghdad requires all U.S. forces to be out of Iraq by the end of the year. Though both Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Obama administration have maintained the roughly 50,000 U.S. troops will leave by then, officials in both nations have acknowledged that Iraq is not yet ready to protect its borders from possible invasion. That's led to widespread speculation that Mr. Maliki ultimately will ask a small number of American forces to remain.
Mr. Sadr said on Saturday that would be unacceptable, but asked his followers to let the government carry out its plan for the troop departure.
“The new government must work to get the occupier out of the country in a suitable way,” he said. “We heard the government pledge this and we are waiting for it to honour its word.” — AP
