36 al-Sadr loyalists suspend participation in government

Today's announcement that lawmakers and Cabinet ministers loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr have suspended participation in parliament and the government to protest Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's summit with U.S.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Lawmakers and Cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday suspended participation in parliament and the government to protest Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's planned meeting with President Bush.

The leaders had been scheduled to hold talks in Amman, Jordan, on Wednesday, but the session was abruptly postponed a day shortly after Bush arrived.

A statement from the 30 lawmakers and six Cabinet ministers said the meeting constituted a "provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a violation of their constitutional rights." The statement did not explain that claim.

The support of the Sadrist bloc in the 275-member parliament was crucial to al-Maliki's election as prime minister this year, a fact that many see reflected in his reluctance to take action against the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to al-Sadr and known to be behind much of the sectarian violence in Iraq.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

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