Word: shying
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...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...
...behavior has ranged from irritating to intolerable. Details of al-Sadr's personal life are a closely guarded secret: he is thought to be in his mid-30s. He is married and has children, although his aides won't disclose how many. He bears a name revered by Shi'ites all over the world: al-Sadr's father and uncle were influential and popular ayatullahs murdered by Saddam's regime. Muqtada was a virtual unknown in Iraq until the U.S. invasion, after which he began building his power base through often ruthless means: his supporters were blamed for the April...
...first half of 2004, he became a nationalist hero to many Iraqis after leading two armed uprisings against U.S. forces. His Mahdi Army is made up of thousands of poor Shi'ites, the majority of whom live in a densely populated Baghdad suburb that bears al-Sadr's family name. Little more than rabble, the Mahdi Army was no match for U.S. troops, but at least 29 American service members were killed in battles with al-Sadr's forces...
...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...