Sadrists end boycott of parliament

Above: The major players -- Nuri al-Maliki (Prime Minister, Shiite), Tariq al-Hashemi (one of two Vice Presidents, Sunni), Moqtada al-Sadr ('fiery' anti-American cleric, Shiite), Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim (head of the largest Shiite coalition), Jalal Talabani (President of Iraq, Kurd, Qadiri Sufi sect of Sunnism), and Massoud Barzani (President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Naqshbandi Sufi sect of Sunnisim). Six Sadrist cabinet ministers quit Maliki's cabinet in April over his refusal to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and Sadr's parliamentary boycotted the legislature in protest of the bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Samarra last month. Recently, the U.S. military said that Sadr has gone back to Iran, which Sadr's aides are denying. The main Sunni Arab bloc is also boycotting cabinet and parliament meetings over what it says is unfair treatment of its members.

Shiite Cleric’s Bloc Returns to Parliament

The political bloc loyal to the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr announced today that it had decided to resume participation in the Iraqi parliament.

The group, which holds 30 of the 275 seats in parliament, walked out in protest on June 13 after the second attack on the Golden Mosque in Samarra, saying the government was not doing enough to protect the shrine.

That protest, along with a separate Sunni boycott, left the parliament unable to work on important legislation demanded by the United States. Members of the Sadr bloc account for a quarter of the seats in the governing Shiite alliance of the prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki...

In April, the Sadr bloc also withdrew its six ministers from Mr. Maliki’s cabinet, to protest the prime minister’s failure to set a deadline for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

Read the rest at the NY Times

Sadr comes to terms with Maliki

The row between Moqtada al-Sadr and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has subsided, thanks to the country’s top Shiite Cleric Ali Sistanti.

Sistani, who resides in the Shiite city of Najaf, has mediated a settlement between the Shiite rivals.

Sadr, who commands one of the country’s most fearsome militias, had suspended the participation of his 30 deputies in parliamentary deliberations and withdrawn his six ministers from Maliki’s government.

Sadr apparently suspected that Maliki was behind the low-key military action by U.S. occupation troops against his militias, known as Mahdi Army.

But the sides have mended their differences, albeit temporarily. The move signals that Sadr is willing to take part in the political process, a bid analysts see as a new tactic to thwart U.S. insistence that Maliki disarm his militias.

To appease the Kurds, Maliki’s allies, Sadr has even indicated a change of heart regarding paragraph 140 of the constitution under which the government is obliged to hold a referendum to determine the fate of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a referendum the Kurds say they are certain to win.

Read the rest at Uruknet

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