Sources: Bush okays targeting al-Sadr

WASHINGTON: U.S. military officials say the Bush administration has given them new authority to target leaders of political and religious militias in Iraq who are implicated in sectarian violence, including the powerful Shiite Muslim cleric Moktada al-Sadr.

Such a showdown, integral to President George W. Bush's plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Baghdad, could spark a deadly confrontation with Shiite militias, which enjoy widespread popularity in Shiite neighborhoods.

It could also erode support for the fragile government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who has agreed to the plan.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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