NAJAF, Iraq – The movement of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has embarked on one of its most dramatic tactical shifts since the beginning of the war.
The populist al-Sadr, 33, is reaching out to a broad array of Sunni leaders, from politicians to insurgents, and purging extremist members of his Mahdi army militia who target Sunnis. Al-Sadr's political followers are distancing themselves from the fragile Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which is widely criticized as corrupt, inefficient and biased in favor of Iraq's majority Shiites.
And moderates are taking up key roles in al-Sadr's movement, professing to be less anti-American and more nationalist as they seek to improve al-Sadr's image and position him in the middle of Iraq's ideological spectrum.
“We want to aim the guns against the occupation and al-Qaeda, not between Iraqis,” Ahmed Shaibani, 37, a cleric who leads al-Sadr's newly formed reconciliation committee, said as he sat inside al-Sadr's heavily guarded compound here.
Al-Sadr controls the second-biggest armed force in Iraq, after the U.S. military, and 30 parliamentary seats, enough power to influence political decision-making and dash U.S. hopes for stability. The cleric withdrew his six ministers from Iraq's cabinet last month, leaving the movement more free to challenge the government.
“Our retreating from the government is one way to show we are trying to work for the welfare of Iraq and not only for the welfare of Shiites,” said Salah al-Obaidi, a senior al-Sadr aide. He said the time was “not mature yet” to form a bloc that could challenge al-Maliki, who came to power largely because of al-Sadr's support.
In recasting himself, al-Sadr is responding to popular frustration, a widening Sunni-Shiite rift and political inertia, conditions he helped create. The shift is as much a reaction to U.S. efforts to rein him in as it is an admission of unfulfilled visions. His strategy exposes the strengths and weaknesses of his movement as it pushes for U.S. troops to leave and competes with its Shiite rivals in the contest to shape a new Iraq.
Since al-Sadr emerged with force after the U.S.-led invasion, he has sought to create a Shiite-led state guided by Islamic law with a strong central government. In 2004, his militia battled U.S. forces in Najaf, bolstering his authority and appeal. But his credibility as a would-be unifier of Iraq suffered after his militiamen engaged in widespread revenge killings of Sunnis following the February 2006 bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra. Today, his movement remains in flux, at times in turmoil, about the approach to Sunnis, the proper timing of a U.S. withdrawal and al-Sadr's political involvement.
Al-Sadr himself has vanished from sight in recent months, raising concerns about his leadership, although his close aides insist he's in hiding for security and strategic reasons.
