Posted by
Defend America on Saturday, March 06, 2010 6:48:22 PM
Radical Cleric Makes Surprise Endorsement of Iraqi Elections as Voting Nears
Saturday, March 06, 2010
BAGHDAD — In a surprise move ahead of
Iraq's parliamentary election, anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
made a rare public appearance Saturday in neighboring Iran, where he's
believed to have been living for the past two years.
Speaking
from Tehran, al-Sadr — flanked by two Iraqi flags — urged Iraqis to
turn out in large numbers in Iraq's parliamentary election Sunday and
give their support to those who he said were "faithful" to the Iraqi
people.
The appeal marked a significant
shift in al-Sadr's position on Iraqi elections. He has viewed past
votes as illegitimate because they took place under the canopy of U.S.
occupation. But in the run-up to this election, the cleric called
voting a means of "political resistance," a new stance that could boost
Sadrist turnout and representation in the next government.
Iraqis
fear Sunday's parliamentary election, billed as a key test of Iraq's
nascent democracy, will lead to a protracted period of uncertainty as
the winners and losers try to cobble together a new government — even
as American forces prepare to go home.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588224,00.html