Word: moqtada
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Even as President Bush and Senator John Kerry skirmish over the decisions that took America into Iraq, the challenge facing U.S. soldiers on the ground may be growing tougher. Their showdown with forces loyal to Moqtada Sadr in Najaf comes amid an escalation of violence - and U.S. casualties - following June's transfer of political authority to Iyad Allawi. The Iraqi Prime Minister's decision to launch a military campaign to break the back of the Sadrist challenge represents what could be a fateful gamble on the part of the new government, and its U.S. underwriter...
...arbitrary terror directed at civilians. They are not nearly as troubled by ambushes on U.S. patrols as they are by suicide car bombs driven into crowds of Iraqis lining up for jobs. Iraqi public opinion shows little support for going after a figure such as the Shiite firebrand Moqtada al-Sadr who launched his own insurgency against U.S. forces when they sought to arrest him, but plenty for going after those responsible for mass-casualty attacks on Shiite mosques and other Iraqi targets. Dealing with the suicide-terror element is therefore a top priority for the government...
...ground, Chalabi's star has waned as a contender for a top spot. Instead, he has sought to carve out an influential role for himself as a man who can mediate between opposing factions. He sought to help negotiate an end to the standoff between the Americans and Moqtada Sadr's men at Najaf, and has lately been mediating between the Interim Government and the Kurdish leadership over the fate of Kurdish autonomy. Although he has no substantial constituency of his own, an ability to mediate and therefore help manage the fractious politics of post-Saddam Iraq could ensure continued...
...elections, however - although the departing U.S. administrator J. Paul Bremer has left in place mechanisms for Allawi and his allies to tightly control who may and may not participate in the election process and on what terms, those are rejected by important Iraqi constituencies. For example, the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr has made clear that he will use his street support to challenge any effort to curb or limit his influence at the ballot box. And up in the north, the Kurds are threatening to boycott the poll unless they're guaranteed the minority veto over a new constitution...
...ordinary Iraqis and the region; isolate the Sunni insurgents by giving as many former Baathist types as possible a stake in the new Iraq, and send them after the foreign jihadists; draw the skeptical Shi'ites closer by going all-out to organize elections and make sure that Moqtada Sadr's group is participating; keep the Kurds on board; develop a common understanding between Iran, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. over the terms of a new Iraqi political arrangement. A tall order, to be sure, but the alternatives are ghastly...