Odierno: U.S. seeks dialogue with al-Sadr

Above: Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multi-National Corps - Iraq, walks with Brig. Gen. Ali Ibrahim Daboun, commander of the 8th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Division, outside the Sadr City Joint Security Station in April. Left: Sadr leads Friday prayers in Kufa last week. He began by asking his followers to chant three times: "No to injustice. No to Israel. No to America. No to the devils."

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military is seeking talks with Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr directly and through the government of Iraq, according to a top American general.

A Sadr aide confirmed that U.S. officials had approached the anti-American cleric's supporters but said that Sadr would never begin a dialogue with what they describe as "occupation forces."

"He has a grass-roots movement that he's always going to have; we have to recognize that," Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the second-ranking American commander in Iraq, told McClatchy Newspapers in an interview this week. "We're trying to talk to him. We want to talk to him."

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