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...comes easy to a man who more than once has pushed it to the edge of the precipice. But these days al-Sadr is part of the process: in December's general elections, his candidates won 32 seats, giving him a decisive voting bloc in the 128-member Shi'ite alliance that dominates the new parliament. But unlike most other Iraqi leaders, al-Sadr commands a genuine popular following, which is why the surge of violence is likely to give him even more influence over the country's future...
...substantial extent, the prospects of averting a full-blown civil war will depend on how al-Sadr chooses to deploy his militia--as a revenge-seeking lynch mob or as enforcers of Shi'ite restraint. Because of his popularity with the Shi'ite masses, any effort to broker a cease-fire between the sects and form a durable Iraqi government that can contain the violence will require his active cooperation. It's an indication of how badly things are going for the Bush Administration that its hopes are pinned to a man implacably hostile toward the U.S.--and whose supporters...
...government. He scuttled a plan that would have replaced Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari--who is widely distrusted by Sunnis--with the more acceptable Adil Abdul Mahdi, and his refusal to deal with secular politicians like former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has confounded U.S. attempts to nudge the Shi'ites to form a national unity government. "We did our best to bring [al-Sadr] into the political process," says Redha Jawad Taqi, a senior leader of SCIRI, the largest Shi'ite party. "But [the Sadrists] believe wrong things about democracy...
...Sadr does have one potential trump card: his strident anti-Americanism has helped him broaden his support base, so that many Iraqi Sunnis regard him as the only Shi'ite leader they can trust. Sunni groups contributed men and material to support the Mahdi Army's uprisings against U.S. forces, and elements of the Mahdi Army fought alongside Sunni insurgents in the battle of Fallujah in fall 2004. "He is somebody who has fought against the occupying forces," says Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi, spokesman for the Association of Muslim Scholars, the leading Sunni clerical body. "All other Shi'ite leaders...
...government's security forces cannot provide the necessary protection, the believers will do it." AYATOLLAH ALI AL-SISTANI, senior Iraqi Shi'ite cleric, after a bomb shattered the golden dome of the revered Askariya Shrine in Samarra, prompting attacks on dozens of Sunni mosques. Al-Sistani later urged his followers not to attack Sunni holy sites in revenge...