Muqtada al-Sadr, the most powerful man in Iraqi politics?
Many believe the storming of the Iraqi parliament by pro-Sadr protesters will only destroy the space for political work in a country where armed conflict has long been a way of settling differences.
ERBIL, Iraq — In a dramatic shift, 13 years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, the once-ignorable Shiite cleric, has reinvented himself as the central figure in a chaotic push to reform the country's broken political system. After Sadr's supporters stormed Baghdad's Green Zone late April, many wonder what his ultimate aim might be.
Sadr’s political initiation began in a remarkable fashion: when his supporters were accused of murdering Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a promising rival Shiite cleric, the day after Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled in April 2003. Loathed by US political and military officials and underestimated by Iraqi politicians returning from exile, Sadr was for years considered nothing more than a menace. The mainstream Western press often described him as a “firebrand” or “radical.”
