Sadr reemerges, demands U.S. pullout from Iraq

Above: Sadr leads Friday prayers in Kufa today. He began by asking his followers to chant three times: "No to injustice. No to Israel. No to America. No to the devils."

KUFA, Iraq -- Influential cleric Muqtada Sadr resurfaced today after months in hiding and delivered a fiery sermon in this Shiite Muslim holy city in which he reiterated his demand for the swift departure of U.S. forces...

Sadr's return to a public stage comes at a time when the radical cleric has been building his national profile, capitalizing on the political impasse gripping Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government.

Aides report that Sadr has reached out to Sunni leaders in recent months and purged extremist elements within his own ranks. Last month, he pulled his six ministers out of Maliki's coalition cabinet, but did not withdraw his 30 legislators from the governing Shiite bloc.

Sadr may also want to reassert control over his Mahdi militia, in which divisions have emerged over his order to pull back and avoid a head-on collision with the U.S. military during the ongoing crackdown.

Read the rest at the LA Times

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