By Dave Anderson:
Moqutada Sadr is still neither dead nor irrelevant despite the hundreds of bleats from warbloggers that he and more importantly the socio-political movement of poor urban Shi'ites would be destroyed by one more large military sweep. Instead, the Sadrists control a significant portion of the Iraqi internal security forces as well as still holding chokeholds on the economy. They were and are a critical swing bloc and have been courted as such.
And now Sadr is back from Iran with higher legitimacy than he had before:
The return of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr comes as Iraq's new government is just getting its footing and at a time when U.S. forces are preparing to withdraw from the country....
Al-Sadr is the son of a revered Shiite religious figure, but his own road to power was unorthodox. He emerged as a political and religious figure in the wake of the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, but al-Sadr was dismissed by most establishment leaders in Iraq as someone with little religious standing.
Iraq's government indicted him in connection with the killing of a rival Shiite leader in 2003. It is not clear how the government will handle that. Sumaida'ie said it will be a decision for Iraq's judiciary.
Al-Sadr went on to win the backing of thousands of poor Shiites.
His time in Iraq was spent to build his religious standing. His movement achieved its primary goal, forcing the United States out of Iraq and also achieved a secondary goal of cementing Shi'ite dominance in the country in such a manner that the poor urban Shi'ites hold significant power.
Later on in USA Today, an American analyst overpersonalizes Sadr's return by saying an avowed enemy of the US is a threat to American interests --- Sadr only became an avowed enemy when his country was invaded for no good reason --- he was an accidental guerrilla and interested in local to him matters only, and his actions, as well as those of his militia, the JAM, continue to be those of people and groups who are interested in local matters.
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