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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basm Ozeti<br />
ably one of the most popular lea<strong>de</strong>rs in the<br />
country. He is also its most dangerous, for<br />
he has the means to wage pohtical or actual<br />
war against any solution that is not precisely<br />
to his liking. He is driven by forces America<br />
has long misread in Iraq: religious sentiment,<br />
economic resentment and enduring<br />
sectarian passions.<br />
And he is now a primary target of Sunni<br />
insurgents bent on provoking ali-out civil<br />
war. Last Thursday, Sunni militants carried<br />
out their <strong>de</strong>adliest attack since 2003. Multiple<br />
car bombs, accompanied by mortars,<br />
killed more than 200 people in Sadr City, a<br />
Shiite slum of 2 million people in Baghdad<br />
that is dominated by the Mahdi Army. Shiite<br />
forces respon<strong>de</strong>d immediately by firing<br />
mortars at a revered Sunni mosque in<br />
Baghdad, and by torching other holy<br />
places. Only the presence of US. troopsand<br />
a wi<strong>de</strong> curfew over the city-prevented<br />
far bloodier revenge attacks.<br />
More than anyone, Sadr personifies the<br />
dilemma Washington faces: If Arnerican<br />
troops leave Iraq quicldy, militia lea<strong>de</strong>rs<br />
like Sadr will be unleashed as never before,<br />
and full-scale civil war could follow. But<br />
the longer the American occupation lasts,<br />
the less popular America gets-and the<br />
more popular Sadr and his ilk become.<br />
To many, Sadr's brand of Shiite politics-homegrown,<br />
populist and ruthlessseems<br />
a natural outgrowth of the min left in<br />
Saddam Hussein's wake, and a powerful<br />
part of what Iraq has become. The United<br />
Nations calculates that an unprece<strong>de</strong>nted<br />
3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed in October.<br />
Death squads connected to the Mahdi<br />
Army, as weil as to other Shia and Sunni<br />
groups, capture and execute civilians in<br />
cold bloOO,sometimes dragging Ùlem out<br />
of hospitals or govemment ministries.<br />
Corpses tum up on the street with acid<br />
burns on their backs, or electric-drill holes<br />
in their knees, stomachs and heads. Among<br />
ordinary Iraqis, the United Sl: