Monday, December 11, 2006

Iraqis Seek Coalition to Curb Cleric

NYT reported Following discussions with the Bush administration, several of Iraq’s major political parties are in talks to form a coalition whose aim is to break the powerful influence of the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr within the government, senior Iraqi officials say.

This is fantastic news.
The talks are taking place among the two main Kurdish groups, the most influential Sunni Arab party and an Iranian-backed Shiite party that has long sought to lead the government. They have invited Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to join them. But Mr. Maliki, a conservative Shiite who has close ties to Mr. Sadr, has held back for fear that the parties might be seeking to oust him, a Shiite legislator close to Mr. Maliki said.
They should tell Maliki that if he will abandon al Sadr, and lrt the Americans take al Sadr and his militia out, that he can remain in control. And they will learn how to form an alliance that croses religious boundaries.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh gee, we will be so gracious as to allow Iraq's elected Prime Minister to remain in power. Sometimes America's generosity goes too far.

Don Singleton said...

If he wants to remain in power and keep Sadr, he can. We should just leave them to their own devices.

And if he wants us to stay, he needs to allow us to deal with Sadr.

He won't because he needs Sadr's votes, which is why we should help persuade the Kurds to give him their support.