BAGHDAD — Days before U.S. and Iraqi troops are expected to establish a permanent presence in the Shiite stronghold named for his father, the anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr stepped up his rhetoric against the plan Saturday.
Sadr, in a statement issued by associates, did not threaten force against the troops, but he rejected U.S. and Iraqi officials' statements in the last week that negotiations had cleared the way for the establishment of the joint security station in Sadr City.
Sadr's words carry huge weight in Sadr City, a teeming poverty-stricken area in northeast Baghdad, and his opposition to the presence of American soldiers could throw a wrench into plans to set up the station.
Just hours before Sadr's office issued its statement, dozens of civic leaders in Sadr City met to discuss the security plan. They said they would cooperate with it but also issued a written statement urging U.S. troops to leave Iraq as soon as possible. Failing that, they said, U.S. forces should "come into Islam and declare publicly taking Islam as their religion."
Their mixed signals reflect the delicacy of the situation as U.S. and Iraqi officials prepare to bring to Sadr City their security crackdown, seen as a last-ditch effort to quell Baghdad's sectarian warfare. On one hand, residents there crave safety and protection from attacks by Sunni Muslim insurgents. On the other hand, most are ideologically opposed to what they consider foreign invaders and say Sadr's Al Mahdi militia and Iraq's Shiite Muslim-led security forces should oversee security.
"Why Americans?" resident Sattar Jabbar Sharhan asked. "Even if they are with Iraqi troops, why? What is the reason?"
He echoed other locals' arguments that the Al Mahdi army had done an admirable job of keeping the peace in Sadr City and that security forces should leave the neighborhood alone and focus on catching Sunni insurgents blamed for suicide car bombings, abductions and other bloodshed. "We didn't make car bombs. We didn't behead foreigners or Iraqis," he said.
One local government leader, Sabri Aziz Nouri, said Sunni areas were the "real incubators of terrorism" so it made sense for the crackdown to focus on them. As for Sadr City, he said the U.S. presence was acceptable only if the Americans limited their role to advising Iraqi forces.
