Apr 16, 2007 5:15 pm US/Eastern
Anti-American Cleric's Bloc Quits Iraq Cabinet
BAGHDAD (CBS News) ―
Cabinet ministers loyal to the anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned on Monday to protest the prime minister's refusal to set a timetable for an American withdrawal, raising the prospect that the Mahdi Army militia could return to the streets of Baghdad.
"I ask God to provide the Iraqi people with an independent government, far from (U.S.) occupation, that does all it can to serve the people," al-Sadr's statement said.
The number of bodies found dumped in Baghdad increased sharply on Sunday to 30 — from as low as five in recent days — in a possible sign of the militia's resurgence, even ahead of the six resignations.
The bodies, most of them tortured before they were shot execution-style, are widely believed to be the victims of Shiite death squads associated with the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr had ordered his fighters to hide their weapons and stay off the streets shortly before the U.S. troop surge and security crackdown began on Feb. 14.
The departure of the six ministers, while unlikely to topple Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government, deals a significant blow to the U.S.-backed leader, who relied on support from the Sadrists to gain office.
Earlier in the day, Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the Sadrist bloc, declared that the ministers would "give the six Cabinet seats to the government, with the hope that they will be given to independents who represent the will of the people."
The White House said al-Sadr's decision to pull out his ministers does not mean that al-Maliki loses his majority.
"I'd remind you that Iraq's system of government is a parliamentary democracy and it's different from our system. So coalitions and those types of parliamentary democracies can come and go," said Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman.
Al-Sadr, who has tremendous influence among Iraq's majority Shiites, has been upset about recent arrests of his Mahdi Army fighters in the U.S.-led Baghdad security crackdown. He and his followers have also criticized al-Maliki for failing to back calls for a timetable for U.S. troops to leave the country.
The prime minister issued a statement later Monday saying "the withdrawal of multinational forces is linked to our armed forces' readiness to take over the security command in all provinces."
In Other Developments:• Two U.S. soldiers were killed in combat on Monday, both of them in Baghdad, the military reported. One soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in the south of the capital; another soldier was wounded in the attack. In southwestern Baghdad, a soldier died when his patrol was hit with small arms fire. A second soldier was wounded, the military said in separate statements. The victims' identifies were withheld until family was notified.
• In Ramadi, U.S. forces mistakenly killed three Iraqi police officers Monday during a raid targeting al Qaeda in Iraq members. The U.S. military issued a statement saying its troops "coordinated their operation and no Iraqi police were known to be in the area." The Americans came under fire and responded, killing three men later identified as Iraqi police officers, the statement said. Another policeman was wounded.
• At least 13 Iraqi soldiers were killed Monday when more than a dozen gunmen hiding in the back of a truck ambushed their military checkpoint near the northern city of Mosul, police said. Another four soldiers were wounded, said police Brig. Saeed Ahmed al-Jibouri, director of Ninevah police.
• Ret. Marine Corps Gen. John J. Sheehan explained his decision to refuse the post of "war czar," saying the nation's foreign policy toward the Middle East is "confused." Sheehan, in a column published in Monday's Washington Post said: "I concluded that the current Washington decision-making process lacks a linkage to a broader view of the region and how the parts fit together strategically. We got it right during the early days of Afghanistan — and then lost focus. We have never gotten it right in Iraq."
• The human rights groups Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Refugee Council appealed to Western governments, in particular Britain, to accept more Iraqi refugees, in order to avert a humanitarian crisis in Middle Easter countries overwhelmed by tens of thousands fleeing sectarian violence. In a letter released on the eve of the first global meeting to address the Iraqi refugee crisis, the organizations indicated the U.S. had taken a step in the right direction by announcing it would accept up to 7,000 Iraqi refugees for resettlement, up from 202 in 2006. "The U.K. has done nothing to allow Iraqi refugees displaced by the conflict the chance to resettle in the U.K. — including people who have shown great loyalty and service to the U.K. in Iraq," they said.
• The trial of Saddam Hussein's cohorts accused in the mass killings of Kurds held a brief session Monday, then adjourned until May 6, to allow lawyers more time to prepare closing statements. Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid — also known as "Chemical Ali" — is among six defendants currently on trial for Operation Anfal, in which more than 100,000 Kurds were killed in the 1980s.
• A coroner on Monday reopened an inquest into the deaths of eight British servicemen at the start of the Iraq war, and criticized the United States for refusing to cooperate. The servicemen died when a U.S. Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait on March 21, 2003, the second day of the war. Four Marines also died. A British inquiry concluded that technical failure was responsible for downing the plane.
• Thousands upset about inadequate city services marched peacefully through the streets of Iraq's second largest city on Monday, demanding the provincial governor's resignation. Residents have complained of inadequate electricity, garbage disposal and water supplies in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.
• Two explosions rocked central Baghdad mid-morning — apparently the sound of mortar shells slamming into a schoolyard at Baghdad University, along the Tigris river. No casualties were reported.
• U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that he will be meeting this week with political and military leaders in Jordan, Israel and Egypt to help bolster the fragile Iraqi government. Discussions in each of the countries is likely to also focus on their military needs and what weapons and training they want from the United States, said one defense official. Gates also plans to urge countries such as Egypt and Israel to modernize their defense systems and "transition from the post-Soviet dependency on conventional weaponry to something more ... related toward counterterrorism and the non-state actors that we are all working together against in the region."
One week ago, al-Sadr mobilized tens of thousands of Iraqis for a peaceful demonstration in two Shiite holy cities, on the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's fall. At the rally, many participants called for a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
Al-Rubaie said the Sadrists' withdrawal from the Cabinet was because the prime minister did not respond to demands made at last week's demonstration.
He also relayed a demand by al-Sadr's movement, that all detainees held by "occupation forces" be transferred to Iraqi authorities "because this is part of sovereignty."
Al-Sadr's followers hold six positions in the 37-member Cabinet, and 30 seats in the 275-member parliament. Monday's order would affect only the Cabinet members.
"We will have a major role in working on a timetable in parliament. This will be our message to the government," al-Rubaie said. "Setting a timetable for the withdrawal will be done in parliament."
Other legislators said the withdrawal was likely to further destabilize al-Maliki's already shaky hold on power.
"The withdrawal will affect the performance of the government, and will weaken it," said Abdul-Karim al-Ouneizi, a Shiite legislator from the Dawa Party-Iraq Organization. Al-Ouneizi is from a different branch of the party al-Maliki heads.
One of the six who resigned, Saad Taha al-Hashimi, Iraq's minister of state for provincial affairs, said the Sadrists would remain influential.
"The movement, as it always has, will remain in society and the government to offer what is best and to push forward the political process," al-Hashimi said.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
