Al-Sadr’s Ministers Quit Iraq-Namese Cabinet

Moqtada al-Sadr is leader of a group that holds 32 seats in the 275-member parliament of Iraq-Nam. Until yesterday, it held 6 ministries. Because the government of Nouri al-Maliki has refused to set a timetable for the US and other foreign troops to leave the country, those 6 ministers resigned. This is not a fatal blow to the government, as the MPs are likely to continue to vote with it when doing so serves their purposes. However, the purpose of the resignations is not to bring down the government. Their purpose is to give Mr. al-Sadr some distance from the Green Zone government as he works his way to being the top man in the nation.

Mr. al-Sadr is likely to become the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iraq-Nam as this journal has said repeatedly. He is a lower level Islamic scholar rather than an ayatollah, but he is the voice of fundamentalist Shi’ism in the country. As the Green Zone government has fumbled its way along, he has engaged in a balancing act. On the one hand, his militia (the Mahdi Army) represents the biggest threat to stability in the nation according to the Pentagon, and certainly responds better to his orders than the Iraq-Namese security forces obey the prime minister's. On the other hand, he has played the democratic game, getting MPs elected and participating in the cabinet.

Nouri al-Maliki is of the Dawa Party, and he became prime minister over Ibrahim al-Jaafari by a single vote in the Shi’ite caucus. Mr. al-Sadr played the role of kingmaker here, and he has the ability to unmake kings if he so chooses. The ministers’ departure is a signal to the people of the country that he stands for a timetable for foreign troops to leave while the prime minister does not. The important thing to note is that most Iraqis want the occupation to end. This move should boost Mr. al-Sadr’s standing and diminish the prime minister’s.

At the same time, the last thing Mr. al-Sadr wants right now is to bear responsibility for anything that occurs. The next few months are likely to be bad, and those in positions of authority will lose out. He’s ambition is to stand on the side and say “I told you so.” Nothing the opposition does in any country does more for recruitment than failures by the government.

Meanwhile in Basra, 3,000 or so marched in the streets demanding the resignation of provincial governor Muhammad al-Waili on grounds of corruption and a failure to improve on the power and water situation. Prime Minister al-Maliki asked for a cancellation of the demonstration saying such problems should be dealt with democratically. The protest went ahead. And the man behind the protest was Moqtada al-Sadr. The balancing act continues.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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