Cleric Al-Sadr Returns to Iraq
The Washington Post reports:
The anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr made a surprise return to Iraq on Wednesday, ending four years of self-imposed exile in Iran and signaling the full rehabilitation of his Sadrist faction within Iraq's political process.
Sadr traveled by plane from the Iranian city of Qom, where he had been studying to become an ayatollah, arriving in Najaf at 3 p.m. with a team of bodyguards referred to as the "golden team." He was quickly surrounded by local politicians, Sadrists and a crowd of cheering supporters.
After visiting the holy Imam Ali Shiite shrine and the grave of his father, a revered cleric who was assassinated by Saddam Hussein's forces in 1999, he returned to his family's home around nightfall as more well-wishers gathered outside.
Sadr's return comes just two weeks after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, also a Shiite, cobbled together a national unity government in which Sadr's support proved crucial.
It was Sadr's decision in October to support Maliki for a second term, in a deal brokered by Iran, that ended the political deadlock paralyzing the formation of a government after elections in March. In October, the two men embraced publicly at a meeting in Qom, ending years of bitter rivalry.
The Sadrist faction controls at least eight ministries in the new cabinet and has vowed to become a full participant in the political process.
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