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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basm Ozeti<br />
Iraqis weigh alliance<br />
to marginalize Sadr<br />
New coalition wou Id bolster Maliki<br />
By Edward Wong<br />
BAGHDAD: Several of Iraq's major<br />
political parties are in talks to form an<br />
American-backed coalition whose aim<br />
is to dampen the influence within the<br />
government of the radical Shiite cleric<br />
Moktada al-Sadr and extremist Sunni<br />
Arab politicians, senior Iraqi officiaIs<br />
say. Presi<strong>de</strong>nt George W Bush is direct-<br />
, ly pushing party lea<strong>de</strong>rs to create the<br />
coalition, the officiaIs said.<br />
A major goal of the parties is to support<br />
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki,<br />
a conservative Shiite, so that he no<br />
longer has to <strong>de</strong>pend on Sadr, one of the<br />
most powerful figures in Iraq, and<br />
could even move militarily against him<br />
if nee<strong>de</strong>d, the officiaIs said. Sadr controIs<br />
a militia with an estimated 60,000<br />
fighters that has rebelled twice against<br />
the U.S. military here and is accused of<br />
wi<strong>de</strong>ning the sectarian war by mur<strong>de</strong>ring<br />
Sunni Arabs in reprisaI killings.<br />
The proposed coalition cuts across<br />
ethnic and sectarian lines. The groups<br />
involved in the talks inclu<strong>de</strong> the two<br />
major Kurdish parties, the most influential<br />
Sunni Arab party and two powerfuI<br />
Shiite parties, including Maliki's.<br />
The Americans, who are increasingly<br />
frustrated with Maliki's ties to Sadr appear<br />
to be working hard to help build<br />
the coalition. Bush met last week in the<br />
White House with the lea<strong>de</strong>r of the other<br />
Shiite party, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, and<br />
is meeting this week with the head of the<br />
Sunni Arab party, Tariq al-Hashemi.<br />
ln late November, Bush, Vice Presi<strong>de</strong>nt<br />
Dick Cheney and Secretary of State<br />
Condoleezza Rice met with lea<strong>de</strong>rs and<br />
envoys from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and<br />
Egypt to try to get them to persua<strong>de</strong><br />
mo<strong>de</strong>rate Sunni Arabs in Iraq to support<br />
Maliki, which would give the prime minister<br />
more leverage to break with Sadr.<br />
Last month, Bush's national security<br />
adviser, Stephen Hadley, wrote in a classified<br />
memo that Washington should<br />
press Sunni Arab and Shiite lea<strong>de</strong>rs to<br />
support Maliki if he sought to build "an<br />
alternative political base."<br />
Iraqi officiaIs involved in the talks<br />
said they had grown frustrated with militant<br />
politicians within the government.<br />
"A number of key political parties,<br />
across the sectarian-ethnic divi<strong>de</strong>, recognize<br />
the gravity of the situation and<br />
have become increasingly aware that<br />
their fate, and that of the country, cannot<br />
be held hostage to the whims of the<br />
extreme fringe within their communities,"<br />
said Barham Salih, a <strong>de</strong>putyprime<br />
minister and senior member of<br />
one of the major Kurdish parties.<br />
"Should these parties succeed in<br />
tli\nscending the sectarian fault lines to<br />
work together o~ the national '<strong>de</strong>mocratic'<br />
project in Iraq, then Iraq will<br />
have a chance," he said<br />
The talks come at a time when Sadr's<br />
relationship with Maliki has shown<br />
signs of strain. On Nov. 30, Sadr suspen<strong>de</strong>d<br />
his political representatives -<br />
30 legislators and 6 cabinet ministers -<br />
fro~ participating in the government.<br />
MahkI called for the Sadr loyalists to return,<br />
but the politicians said they would<br />
do so only if Maliki and the:Americans<br />
set a timetable for the withdrawal ofU.S.<br />
troops. That <strong>de</strong>mand was reiterated<br />
Sunday by Sadr in a fiery written message<br />
from his home in Naja£<br />
Any plan to form an alliance across<br />
sectarian lines, and one that isolates<br />
-Sadr and Sunni extremists, carries<br />
7normous risks. The entire point of givmg<br />
Sadr a voice in the political process<br />
was to persua<strong>de</strong> him to use political<br />
power to effect change rather than doing<br />
so through force of arms. If Sadr<br />
thought he was being marginalized, he<br />
could ignite another rebellion, this time<br />
with a militia that has grown vastly<br />
since 2004, when U.S. troops struggled<br />
to put down two uprisings.<br />
But senior U.S.comman<strong>de</strong>rs said that<br />
the attempts to make peace with Sadr<br />
through politics may have failed, and a<br />
mil.itar~ assault ~mhis strongholds may<br />
be mevItable. HIS greatest support lies<br />
in the Sadr City district of Baghdad,<br />
with 2.2 million people, and in areas of<br />
the southern Shiite heartland, where his<br />
militia has clashed often with Hakim's.<br />
On Monday, Falah Shanshal, a Sadr<br />
legislator, <strong>de</strong>nounced the i<strong>de</strong>a of any<br />
political coalition that would exclu<strong>de</strong><br />
Sadr officiaIs. "We're against any new<br />
bloc, new front or new alliance," he<br />
said. "We have to make unit y between<br />
us, to be one front against terrorism and<br />
t? liberate the coun.try from the occupatIon.<br />
Any new allIance will never be<br />
useful in this situation."<br />
Iraqi officiaIs said another big risk was<br />
a backlash against the parties involved in<br />
the talks from other lea<strong>de</strong>rs in their own<br />
ethnic or sectarian communities.<br />
. .For Ha~im and !'Aaliki,any attempt to<br />
lom Sunm Arabs m an alliance against<br />
Sadr could invoke the wrath of Grand<br />
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most powerfuI<br />
Shiite cleric in Iraq. Since the toppling<br />
of Saddam Hussein, the ayatollah<br />
ha~.worke~har~ to bring various feuding<br />
Shllte factIons mto one greater coalition<br />
to rule Iraq. Right now, that coalition<br />
which inclu<strong>de</strong>s Sadr, is the dominant<br />
bloc in the 275-member Parliament.<br />
Abdul Razzaq al-Saiedi, Kirk Semple,<br />
Sabrina Tavernise and Qais Mizher contributed<br />
to this article.<br />
Men suspected of kidnapping, who were captured in an Iraqt. A .d. • • Karim KadimlThe Associaled Press<br />
_ _ . rmy rai ,waitlng Monday IDthe army's headquarters in Baghdad.<br />
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