al Sadr (with Sunni support) makes move to end US Occupation

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http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1490.shtml

Hope at last for Iraq: not the Iraq Study Group, but signs of unity
against the occupation
By Nicolas J S Davies
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Dec 1, 2006, 01:00

> >
For three and a half years, the only hope for the people of Iraq has
been that they would eventually unite politically across sectarian
lines to end the U.S. occupation. And the most consistent goal of the
tortured and demented U.S. policy in Iraq has been to prevent such
unity at all costs. Now, in the midst of unprecedented levels of
violence between Iraqis in Baghdad, there are new signs of hope that
could lead to freedom from occupation and the formation of an
independent government.

"They are telling the ordinary people that if the American forces
withdraw from Iraq, this will provoke more violence. We say, since the
minute they stepped on this ground, chaos and instability have spread
throughout the country. We reiterate that the departure of the
occupying forces will restore stability, security and the brotherhood
of the Iraqi people" --Saleh Hassan al-Agili

Mr. al-Agili is not a member of the Sunni-led resistance to the U.S.
occupation, but one of 30 members of the political party of Muqtada
al-Sadr in the Iraqi parliament. This group of legislators includes
six cabinet members, and holds critical power in the government of
Prime Minister al-Maliki. They asserted their power this week by
demanding that he cancel a planned meeting with U.S. President George
Bush in Jordan. When al-Maliki attended an abbreviated meeting with
Bush, all the Sadrists and two Sunni cabinet members suspended their
participation in the government, demanding a firm timetable for the
withdrawal of occupation forces.

At the same time, Muqtada al-Sadr is reaching out to the Sunni
population, in particular to Hareth al-Dhari, the chairman of the
Association of Muslim Scholars, for whom the Interior Ministry has
issued an arrest warrant. Sadr has proposed some steps that Iraqis can
take to repair the bad blood the occupation has fostered between
Sunnis and Shiites, with a reduction in violence between Iraqis as the
short-term goal and the end of U.S. occupation as their common
interest.

To al-Dhari he proclaimed, "Why has the devil made his way between us?
This will serve only the colonizers and will harm the hawza (clerical
authority). Here is my hand -- I put it forward in reconciliation.
Will there be a hand reaching out for mine?">>

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CJ