Word: muqtada
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...that Obama is a fellow sectarian. "When Obama won," says Mohammed, "it was a big day in Sadr City. Many people felt, Now we have a brother in the White House." (Sadr City - estimated pop. 2 million - is a bastion of anti-Americanism, where the radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia, the Mahdi Army, hold sway. Few Americans would dare visit the neighborhood without a massive military escort...
...that is, consider that Ameri is the leader of the Badr Brigades, the Iran-trained Shi'ite militia affiliated with the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the largest Shi'ite political party. Sunnis fear and loathe the Badr Brigades almost as much as they do the dreaded Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr. While the Mahdi Army is blamed for most of the random street violence during the 2005-07 civil war, many Sunnis believe the Badr Brigades systematically assassinated Sunni politicians and community leaders. (Ameri and other Badr leaders deny this...
...American troops has unified Iraq in unexpected ways. Politicians agree that the U.S. military must withdraw, and soon--and while they disagree fiercely about whether the end of 2011 is soon enough, the debate has brought together some unlikely bedfellows. Sunni hard-liners joined Shi'ites loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in opposing the deal, while Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki won enthusiastic backing from Anbar province sheiks ordinarily scornful of his government...
...greater say in what U.S. troops do until then. Opponents of the deal warn that the government has signed secret codicils that give the U.S. far greater leeway than advertised and may keep American troops in Iraq indefinitely. Ajil Abdel-Hussein, an MP loyal to the Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, suggested the government was trying to lay the ground for a "new [U.S.] occupation of Iraq." (See pictures of U.S. troops' five years in Iraq...
...that's not enough for some Iraqi leaders, like the firebrand Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. On Friday he threatened to resume attacks against U.S. troops if they don't withdraw "without retaining bases or signing agreements." By rejecting the pact, al-Sadr, like some other opponents of the deal, is also hoping to burnish his nationalist credentials ahead of crucial provincial polls in January...