January 5, 2011
HAIL, THE CONQUERING HERO:
Moqtada al-Sadr returns to Iraq after exile: Cleric who has spent three years in Iran goes back less than fortnight after helping usher in new government (Martin Chulov, 1/05/11, guardian.co.uk)
[W]ord of the cleric's arrival was beginning to filter around Iraq's Shia strongholds, which remained fiercely loyal to Sadr during his time in exile."I can confirm that Sheikh Moqtada al-Sadr is in Najaf," Sheikh Hazem al-Areji, from the cleric's Najaf office, said.
The streets of Sadr City and other eastern Baghdad neighbourhoods have so far remained calm, although some waved banners and played anthems of Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which was a dominant player in the brutal sectarian war in 2006-2007.
Sadr had vowed not to return to Iraq until all US forces had left the country. Around 45,000 troops remain, but only a small number are combat troops and all are now under the ultimate direction of the Iraqi government.
The wane in US power over the country it invaded eight years ago, coupled with a return to political prominence for Sadrists, seems to have been enough to lure Sadr back to Najaf, which he fled in 2004 after it was surrounded by US troops.
The Sadrist bloc won 39 seats in Iraq's new parliament and was given eight ministries by the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, whose return as leader was made possible by Sadr's backing, in turn brokered by his hosts in Iran.
Because the co-operation involved in the Surge was implicit, he returns untainted.
