Iraq's Sadr Overhauls His Tactics
20 May Washington Post - Iraq's Sadr Overhauls His Tactics by Sudarsan Raghavan.
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The movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has embarked on one of its most dramatic tactical shifts since the beginning of the war.
The 33-year-old populist is reaching out to a broad array of Sunni leaders, from politicians to insurgents, and purging extremist members of his Mahdi Army militia who target Sunnis. Sadr's political followers are distancing themselves from the fragile Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which is widely criticized as corrupt, inefficient and biased in favor of Iraq's majority Shiites. And moderates are taking up key roles in Sadr's movement, professing to be less anti-American and more nationalist as they seek to improve Sadr's image and position him in the middle of Iraq's ideological spectrum...
Sadr Back in Iraq, U.S. Generals Say
25 May Washington Post - Sadr Back in Iraq, U.S. Generals Say by Thomas E. Ricks and Sudarsan Raghavan.
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Moqtada al-Sadr, the influential Shiite cleric and militia leader who went into hiding before the launch of a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive in February, is in the southern city of Kufa, senior U.S. military commanders said Thursday.
Sadr, who has long opposed the U.S. occupation and is ratcheting up pressure for a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, has returned from neighboring Iran, perhaps as recently as this week, they said.
"He's been very quiet since he's come back," said Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division, which is spearheading the offensive in and around Baghdad, now in its fourth month. Sadr's aides said their leader has remained in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, adjacent to Kufa.
Sadr's movement is wooing Sunni leaders and purging extremists in his Mahdi Army militia in an attempt to strengthen his image as a nationalist who can lead all Iraqis at a time when antiwar sentiments are growing in the United States and Iraq's political landscape is increasingly fractured...
U.S. and British Airstrikes Hit Iraqi Militia
27 May NY Times - U.S. and British Airstrikes Hit Iraqi Militia by Kirk Semple.
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American, British and Iraqi forces battled fighters from the Mahdi Army militia in Baghdad and the southern port city of Basra on Saturday, with commanders resorting to airstrikes to suppress the militia in both cities, officials said.
The fighting occurred a day after the militia’s leader, the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, came out of hiding and reiterated his calls for the withdrawal of foreign troops. But there was no indication that his re-emergence had incited the militia to take up arms on Saturday against government and allied forces...