Word: clerical
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...either stay or leave." Looked at another way, that's pretty much what the Americans had asked for: a "conditions-based" withdrawal plan. But by demanding a firm deadline for withdrawal, al-Maliki has appropriated a key rallying point of one of his key opponents, radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr...
...Things have changed in recent months, however, with al-Maliki steadily strengthening his own political footing. Through a series of battles earlier this year, the improved Iraqi security forces nearly managed to marginalize the Mahdi Army militia of powerful Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the Prime Minister's chief rival. Moreover, the Iraqi army has shown new muscle in Sunni areas of Iraq like Diyala province, even as the Prime Minister shored up Sunni support for his government in Baghdad - a delicate political process involving force and cajoling but little compromise on his part...
...transform his movement into more of a humanitarian organization. Even while Maliki's government clashed in the streets of southern Iraq and Baghdad with Sadr's fighters earlier this year, American officials did not call for Sadr's capture or destruction but were openly holding out hope that the cleric would rejoin the political process. In other words, the Americans want to deal with Sadr, even if the Maliki government doesn't. And Sadr appears ready to deal with the Americans on the question of a drawdown of U.S. forces, even if the Maliki government...
When her father, Imam Abdessalam Yassine, a respected Sufi cleric, made similar remarks during the reign of the last King, he was incarcerated in an insane asylum, and she concedes that political freedom has improved under Mohammed VI. Nadia Yassine also welcomes the fact that women are now allowed to conduct religious activities. "We need to restore a version of Islam that has less machismo," she says. After all, such efforts to bolster a gentler, more moderate form of Islam may stop Morocco turning into Iraq once Hollywood's cameras stop rolling...
...killed fighting the Americans, according to Mohanid. One holds a gun and is draped in ammunition, and like most other martyr billboards around the neighborhood, al-Sadr's picture floats next to them. Unlike in Basra, where his portrait has been torn down from many street corners, the cleric's picture in Sadr City remains ubiquitous, and graffiti on the walls reads: "Long live al-Sadr" and "Saulat al-Sadr" - Charge of al-Sadr - the Mahdi Army's answer to Maliki's Basra offensive, which was called Saulat al-Forsan, or Charge of the Knights...