NAJAF - Moqtada al-Sadr took to the holy city of Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad, his first speech after the exile. Speaking to thousands of people gathered outside his home, the radical Iraqi Shiite leader called to say "no to America" and urged the resistance: "We are still fighting." To his followers, the 37 year-old religious leader has asked to give a chance to the new Iraqi government to Nouri al-Maliki."If it helps the people and its security, we are with him," said Moqtada al-Sadr, "if he did," he added, "there are ways to fix things, but they are just politicians." Maliki's Shiite-led government by seven ministers are part linked radical imam, which can also count on 39 MPs in Parliament.
Moqtada al-Sadr returned to Iraq on Wednesday after a self-imposed exile of three years in Iran. After the U.S. invasion established an armed wing, the Mehdi army, who fought against U.S. troops and is considered responsible for sectarian killings in the civil war between Shiites and Sunnis that have bloodied Baghdad and southern Iraq in the post-Saddam, the Sadr until August 2008 did not order the suspension of military activities.
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- Factbox: Key facts about Iraq's Moqtada al-Sadr (05/01/2011)
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