SAFELY OUT OF HARM'S WAY:

Anti-American cleric flees Iraq for Iran (ANNE GEARAN, 2/14/07, AP)

Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr fled Iraq for Iran ahead of a security crackdown in Baghdad and the arrival of 21,500 U.S. troops sent by President Bush to quell sectarian violence, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.

Al-Sadr left his Baghdad stronghold some weeks ago, the official said, and is believed to be in Tehran, where he has family.

Sadr aides say cleric in Iraq, laying low (Dean Yates and Mariam Karouny, 2/14/07, Reuters)

Four of Sadr's aides said he was still in Iraq. Some said he was in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf but had reduced public appearances for "security reasons". They did not elaborate.

"He is now in Iraq," said Nassar al-Rubaei, head of the Sadrist bloc in Iraq's parliament, reiterating the Sadrists backing for an offensive in Baghdad that is seen as a final attempt to prevent all-out sectarian civil war.

"We fully support this security plan. It would make no sense for our leadership to escape it."

Doesn't matter where we have him hidden, the deal just requires that he not be harmed during the surge.

MORE:
Al-Sadr offers Baghdad deal (Liz Sly, 1/30/07, Chicago Tribune)

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered his militia not to confront U.S. forces and has endorsed negotiations aimed at easing the deployment of American troops in his strongholds, according to Sadrist and other Shiite officials.

Ahead of a planned surge of 21,500 U.S. troops intended to secure Baghdad, the cleric has instructed his al-Mahdi Army, recently described by the Pentagon as the biggest single threat to a stable Iraq, to keep a low profile and stay off the streets, Sadr officials say.

A deal with the supporters of the fiercely anti-American cleric would temper U.S. military commanders' concern that any attempt to secure Baghdad will inevitably lead to a showdown with Iraq's biggest private army. In 2004, the U.S. military fought bloody battles with the Mahdi Army in Najaf and in Sadr City, a sprawling Shiite enclave in Baghdad, and has since steered clear of direct confrontations with the militia.

The Sadrist movement has given its blessing to an initiative led by one of two mayors of Sadr City to negotiate terms under which U.S. forces will be able to deploy freely there.

If the negotiations succeed, U.S. forces will be welcome in Sadr City, the Mahdi Army stronghold that has witnessed two previous battles between U.S. troops and the Shiite militia, said Rahim al-Daraji, the mayor of the southern half of Sadr City. Al-Daraji said he has been authorized to negotiate on behalf of the Mahdi Army and other Shiite factions.

"It will mean any U.S. soldier will be as welcome in Sadr City as any Iraqi citizen," said al-Daraji, who said he is politically independent. "He will be able to walk safely in Sadr City, sit in any restaurant he likes, and he can help in reconstructing the city."

Al-Daraji says he has met with coalition military and U.S. Embassy officials three times since President Bush's revised strategy for Iraq was announced.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 13, 2007 8:54 PM