Firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr returns to centre stage of Iraqi politics
April 1, 2016 – 3:32PM
Liz Sly
Baghdad: Muqtada al-Sadr, the cleric whose militia repeatedly battled US troops more than a decade ago, is back in action in Iraq – this time as a battler against corruption who seeks to change the face of government.
On Thursday, after spending five days holed up in a tent inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone to press his demands, he was handed a victory, in the form of a proposed new government presented to parliament by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
The new, streamlined cabinet is to be composed not of politicians but technocrats with the skills required to run ministries – meeting one of Mr Sadr’s chief demands.
He has also demanded that the government “allocate a share for each Iraqi citizen from the oil revenues”, though how this might be done was not clear.
Whether a new government will be formed is also in question. Parliament won’t vote on whether to approve the candidates for another 10 days.
The proposal did mark a small first step toward a larger package of reforms long promised by Mr Abadi but never implemented because of resistance from the country’s powerful political blocs.
It was also a significant triumph for Mr Sadr, the scion of one of Shiite Islam’s most revered families and also the overall commander of one of the country’s more powerful militias, known in the earliest years of the US occupation of Iraq as the Mahdi Army and now called Saraya al-Salam, or Peace Brigades.
Yet again Mr Sadr has demonstrated that he has the power to mobilise disenfranchised Shiites.
A decade after he first confronted US forces, Muqtada al-Sadr has again shown his power to mobilise Shiite masses.
“Our efforts have been rewarded,” Mr Sadr said, calling off the protests, in a televised speech beamed from his Green Zone tent to thousands of cheering supporters gathered just beyond the zone’s fortified blast walls.
“We will never be humiliated!” the crowd chanted back, pumping their fists at the screen on which his speech was being broadcast before dispersing into the night, tooting horns and waving Mr Sadr’s picture.
Mr Sadr headed back to his home in the southern city of Najaf in a 24-vehicle armoured convoy.
Mr Abadi, in his speech to parliament, thanked Mr Sadr for his role in organising the protests that helped him formulate the proposed new government.
“Everybody comes out looking well, which was what was needed,” said Sajad Jiyad of the Bayan Centre for Planning and Studies, who has advised Mr Abadi in the past. “Sadr has presented himself as an agent of reform. The prime minister kept his job and looked calm and reasonable, as if he is in charge.”
The deal culminated more than eight months of escalating unrest that has seen huge crowds gather in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to demand that Mr Abadi boot out corrupt ministers and abolish the practice of distributing government positions according to sectarian quotas, adopted after the US invasion in 2003.
The momentum stalled after reforms swiftly promised by the prime minister failed to materialise – until Mr Sadr stepped in. He gave Mr Abadi a 45-day ultimatum to appoint a new government, after which Sadr would order his supporters to storm the Green Zone.
To underline the threat, Sadrist supporters set up a tented protest camp just beyond the Green Zone’s fortified walls, echoing similar camps set up elsewhere in the region during the Arab Spring revolts – except that unlike those popular revolts, this one was underwritten by a private army.
When the deadline passed without result, instead of ordering an assault, Mr Sadr strode into the Green Zone, flanked by just a handful of aides, and declared that he was ready to sacrifice his life for the people’s demands.
The soldiers, ostensibly there to keep outsiders out, embraced him. The general in charge of security knelt and kissed his hand. Mr Sadr’s aides erected a tent for him. Then he took a selfie with five of his closest aides.
The message was clear: The political elites living in luxury behind their fortified walls cannot be protected from Mr Sadr’s wrath, and even the security forces could not be counted on to defend them.
Mr Abadi was never Mr Sadr’s target, his supporters say. Rather, they explain, the goal was to bolster Mr Abadi’s wobbly hold on power by pressuring the more powerful politicians blocking Mr Abadi’s reforms to acquiesce to changes that will presumably see them kicked out of their jobs.
“What we want to do is set Abadi free from the pressures of the blocs and the parties so that he can meet the people’s demands,” said Hakim al-Zamili, a Sadrist member of parliament and one of the select few who accompanied Mr Sadr on his Green Zone foray.
In his speech, Mr Abadi indirectly called on Mr Sadr to end the protests, which he said were burdening the security forces as they fight Islamic State, which still controls considerable territory in northern and western Iraq.
“Reforms should not be allowed to impact the military and security situation,” Mr Abadi said.
But graft is itself a significant drain on Iraq’s resources. Other Iraqi politicians, including some within Mr Abadi’s Dawa Party, have pushed back against a reshuffle, fearing it could weaken the patronage networks that have sustained their wealth and influence for more than a decade.
Mr Sadr’s bloc accounts for only 34 of parliament’s 328 MPs and may not be able to vote down Mr Abadi if other political parties decide otherwise.
Mr Sadr may also be seeking to reposition himself as rising stars in other Shiite militias soar to prominence because of their role in fighting IS.
Mr Sadr has demonstrated that “he has more popular support than those militias”, said Mohammed Naaina, a professor of political science at Baghdad University. “No party right now would dare clash with Muqtada al-Sadr because they know they won’t win.
April 1, 2016 – 3:32PM
Liz Sly
Baghdad: Muqtada al-Sadr, the cleric whose militia repeatedly battled US troops more than a decade ago, is back in action in Iraq – this time as a battler against corruption who seeks to change the face of government.
On Thursday, after spending five days holed up in a tent inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone to press his demands, he was handed a victory, in the form of a proposed new government presented to parliament by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
The new, streamlined cabinet is to be composed not of politicians but technocrats with the skills required to run ministries – meeting one of Mr Sadr’s chief demands.
He has also demanded that the government “allocate a share for each Iraqi citizen from the oil revenues”, though how this might be done was not clear.
Whether a new government will be formed is also in question. Parliament won’t vote on whether to approve the candidates for another 10 days.
The proposal did mark a small first step toward a larger package of reforms long promised by Mr Abadi but never implemented because of resistance from the country’s powerful political blocs.
It was also a significant triumph for Mr Sadr, the scion of one of Shiite Islam’s most revered families and also the overall commander of one of the country’s more powerful militias, known in the earliest years of the US occupation of Iraq as the Mahdi Army and now called Saraya al-Salam, or Peace Brigades.
Yet again Mr Sadr has demonstrated that he has the power to mobilise disenfranchised Shiites.
A decade after he first confronted US forces, Muqtada al-Sadr has again shown his power to mobilise Shiite masses.
“Our efforts have been rewarded,” Mr Sadr said, calling off the protests, in a televised speech beamed from his Green Zone tent to thousands of cheering supporters gathered just beyond the zone’s fortified blast walls.
“We will never be humiliated!” the crowd chanted back, pumping their fists at the screen on which his speech was being broadcast before dispersing into the night, tooting horns and waving Mr Sadr’s picture.
Mr Sadr headed back to his home in the southern city of Najaf in a 24-vehicle armoured convoy.
Mr Abadi, in his speech to parliament, thanked Mr Sadr for his role in organising the protests that helped him formulate the proposed new government.
“Everybody comes out looking well, which was what was needed,” said Sajad Jiyad of the Bayan Centre for Planning and Studies, who has advised Mr Abadi in the past. “Sadr has presented himself as an agent of reform. The prime minister kept his job and looked calm and reasonable, as if he is in charge.”
The deal culminated more than eight months of escalating unrest that has seen huge crowds gather in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to demand that Mr Abadi boot out corrupt ministers and abolish the practice of distributing government positions according to sectarian quotas, adopted after the US invasion in 2003.
The momentum stalled after reforms swiftly promised by the prime minister failed to materialise – until Mr Sadr stepped in. He gave Mr Abadi a 45-day ultimatum to appoint a new government, after which Sadr would order his supporters to storm the Green Zone.
To underline the threat, Sadrist supporters set up a tented protest camp just beyond the Green Zone’s fortified walls, echoing similar camps set up elsewhere in the region during the Arab Spring revolts – except that unlike those popular revolts, this one was underwritten by a private army.
When the deadline passed without result, instead of ordering an assault, Mr Sadr strode into the Green Zone, flanked by just a handful of aides, and declared that he was ready to sacrifice his life for the people’s demands.
The soldiers, ostensibly there to keep outsiders out, embraced him. The general in charge of security knelt and kissed his hand. Mr Sadr’s aides erected a tent for him. Then he took a selfie with five of his closest aides.
The message was clear: The political elites living in luxury behind their fortified walls cannot be protected from Mr Sadr’s wrath, and even the security forces could not be counted on to defend them.
Mr Abadi was never Mr Sadr’s target, his supporters say. Rather, they explain, the goal was to bolster Mr Abadi’s wobbly hold on power by pressuring the more powerful politicians blocking Mr Abadi’s reforms to acquiesce to changes that will presumably see them kicked out of their jobs.
“What we want to do is set Abadi free from the pressures of the blocs and the parties so that he can meet the people’s demands,” said Hakim al-Zamili, a Sadrist member of parliament and one of the select few who accompanied Mr Sadr on his Green Zone foray.
In his speech, Mr Abadi indirectly called on Mr Sadr to end the protests, which he said were burdening the security forces as they fight Islamic State, which still controls considerable territory in northern and western Iraq.
“Reforms should not be allowed to impact the military and security situation,” Mr Abadi said.
But graft is itself a significant drain on Iraq’s resources. Other Iraqi politicians, including some within Mr Abadi’s Dawa Party, have pushed back against a reshuffle, fearing it could weaken the patronage networks that have sustained their wealth and influence for more than a decade.
Mr Sadr’s bloc accounts for only 34 of parliament’s 328 MPs and may not be able to vote down Mr Abadi if other political parties decide otherwise.
Mr Sadr may also be seeking to reposition himself as rising stars in other Shiite militias soar to prominence because of their role in fighting IS.
Mr Sadr has demonstrated that “he has more popular support than those militias”, said Mohammed Naaina, a professor of political science at Baghdad University. “No party right now would dare clash with Muqtada al-Sadr because they know they won’t win.
