The Washington Post reports:
The followers of Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr once were powerful enough to do battle against the U.S. military, play kingmaker in choosing Iraq’s prime minister and declare themselves the true defenders of the country’s Shiite majority.
But parliament’s approval last week of a security agreement that requires U.S. forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, a date the Sadrists consider far too distant, has underscored the movement’s waning influence. Sadr’s loyalists are on the defensive, struggling to remain politically relevant as the U.S. role in Iraq diminishes and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gains stature.
The day after the agreement’s passage, anger lined the face of Hazim al-Araji, Sadr’s top aide. Inside a gold-domed shrine in Baghdad’s Kadhimiyah neighborhood, he railed against Iraq’s lawmakers. “They ignored our ideas and thoughts when they signed this agreement,” he said from his pulpit. “They paid no attention to all our martyrs who gave their blood fighting the occupation.” . . .
The congregation of a few thousand was smaller than usual, a sign of the Sadrists’ uncertain future.
(Via Hot Air.)
One might get the impression that Sadr lost. Somebody tell Time!
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