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  • Don't Exclude al-Sadr
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  See Also

  Iraq, Wars and Warfare

  The Next Big Mistake in Iraq: Trying to Shut Out Muqtada al-Sadr

  Author:	Mohamad Bazzi, Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow

  May 7, 2008
  The National

  In hindsight, it is easy to see the mistakes that the United States made in Iraq: the disbanding of the Iraqi army and the whole-scale purge of Ba’ath Party members that crippled any effort to build a new government. It is harder to see mistakes about to be made. But there’s one major error unfolding right now, and it’s not too late to prevent it: the exclusion of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr from the political process.

  The consequences of trying to isolate Sadr and his political movement are profound: he will lash out further at the Iraqi government and US troops, his supporters will completely abandon the ceasefire he imposed last August, and violence will spiral out of control once again. US commanders credit Sadr’s ceasefire with a significant drop in both attacks on US forces and sectarian bloodletting. Those highly touted gains made during the “surge” of US troops will evaporate.

  The Iraqi government recently approved a draft law barring any political party with a militia from participating in provincial elections set for October. While Sadr and his Mahdi Army were not specifically mentioned in the legislation, they are the intended target. Other Iraqi parties operate militias, but they have been largely absorbed into the Iraqi army or security forces. The bill is now before the Iraqi parliament.

  Past attempts to force Sadr out of the political sphere have backfired. In March 2004, the then-US administrator Paul Bremer closed Sadr’s newspaper in Baghdad, leading to weeks of protests by Sadrists and an uprising by the Mahdi army in southern Iraq. Sadr emerged from that battle stronger than ever.

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