Militant Cleric Considers Entry Into Iraqi Politics
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Moktada al-Sadr has told Iraqi leaders that he is planning to disband his militia and possibly field candidates for office.
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A plan to disarm militia has raised hope that Moktada al-Sadr will continue his turn toward entering the democratic process.
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An Iranian-based cleric who had been the former spiritual guide of radical anti-U.S. Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr has distanced himself from his former pupil's actions, his Web site said Sunday.
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Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has emerged from a bloody, two-week showdown with U.S. forces with his militia intact but his heroic image in question.
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BAGHDAD -- A vociferous and well-organized faction of extremist Shi'ite Muslims is mobilizing to challenge the new government that emerges from Iraq's recent election and to push for a hard line against the United States.
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Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric whose Mahdi Army militia is fighting in Najaf with Iraqi and US forces, favors a political role in the nation&#39;s future rather than persisting with a military standoff, said Rime Allaf at London&#39;s ...
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Several major political parties are in talks to form a coalition to break the influence of the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, Iraqi officials say.
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Under the guidance of Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Shiite parties presented a list Thursday of 228 candidates for next month's parliamentary elections. Minority Sunni Arabs, who had been favored under Saddam Hussein, must now decide whether to join the race or renounce a vote that will help determine the country's future.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - With his militants and human  shields holed up inside one of Shi'ite Islam's most sacred  shrines, radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is playing a  shrewd waiting game before an expected American-led offensive.
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Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite Muslim cleric leading an insurgency in Iraq, ordered his militiamen to leave holy shrines in Najaf, as fighting in the city continued, the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television network said.
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KUFA, Iraq  - Fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months on Friday to renew his opposition to U.S. forces in Iraq and paint himself as a leader for all Iraqis.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric made a  sudden return to the country Wednesday and said he had a plan  to end an uprising in the "burning city" of Najaf, where  fighting is creeping ever closer to its holiest shrine.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's radical cleric Moqtada  al-Sadr wants to negotiate arrangements to implement government  demands to end his uprising, his spokesman said.
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Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical cleric, surfaced in Iraq Friday -- four months after his last public appearance -- and blasted the United States, Britain and Israel as an "evil trio," Reuters and an Iraq TV station reported. The U.S. military has remained keenly interested in al-Sadr's movements because he controls the powerful Mehdi Army, which has thousands of loyal anti-American followers.
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Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has left Iraq and is in Iran, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, after the cleric's aides denied earlier reports he had departed to avoid an offensive against militants.
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Iraq&#39;s majority Shiites have unveiled a major alliance ahead of next month&#39;s landmark elections that is backed by their highest religious leader - but which excludes radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
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Iraq's prime minister is weighing whether to sever his alliance with a radical Shiite cleric blamed for much of the country's sectarian violence, aides said Wednesday. But isolating Muqtada al-Sadr could lead to more deadly attacks, even if the strategy could produce a more stable administration over time.