..._ A suicide bomber strikes Shiite worshippers at a mosque run by followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, killing at least 12 people, a day after Iraqi lawmakers approved a security pact with the United States. Moved. By Kim Gamel. AP Photos. IRAQ-AL-MALIKI'S...
...by the three-member Presidential Council, which is expected to approve it. A bloc of 30 lawmakers loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who wants U.S. forces to leave Iraq immediately, chanted protests and hoisted banners that said "No, no to the agreement"...
...that the Sunni uprising against the US occupation has largely ended. Mr Maliki was able to face down the Shia militia of Muqtada al-Sadr earlier this year through Iranian support. In control of increasingly powerful Iraqi security forces, the Shia leaders...
...is careening towards a showdown that is likely to turn violent in 2009. The intra-Shiite tensions -- Dawa vs. ISCI vs. Muqtada al-Sadr's movement -- are also likely to get ugly. And the biggest problem of all is the power of the 100,000-strong Sunni Awakening...
...else may change as well. Several of the most disruptive forces in Iraqi politics, such as those of the militant Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who wants something close to an Iranian theocracy for Iraq, have built their appeal on the notion of resisting the...
...diplomatic relations with Baghdad in 2006 and has maintained ties with senior Iraqi figures (including Jalal Talabani and Muqtada al-Sadr). More importantly, it enjoys solid relations with Iran, the major regional powerbroker in Iraq. While the Bush administration...
...still burst from various sources and wild cards remain, such as the potential that Muqtada al-Sadr might stomp his feet and encourage his diminished militias to attack us. Yet support for Sadr among Shia is hardly monolithic. In fact, many Shia view him as...