Shiite cleric and political leader Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his ministers to quit the Iraqi government on Monday because Prime Minister Maliki won’t set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
The Shi’ite Alliance is a coalition of Shiite political parties that includes Maliki and al-Sadr. Al-Sadr’s followers hold a quarter of the Alliance’s parliamentary seats (al-Sadr’s members of parliament will not abandon the government), in addition to six ministries. The withdrawal of al-Sadr’s ministers, though it has happened before, puts an already embattled Maliki in an even more tenuous position, and drives the Iraq government closer to the brink.
The problem here at home is that is makes clear that al-Sadr’s priorities and the Democrats’ priorities are one: a timetable for withdrawal. Not a good thing when you are perceived as being in lockstep with a war zone’s most powerful thug.
