Baghdad, Iraq – The U.S. military is seeking talks with Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr directly and through the government of Iraq, according to a top American general.
An al-Sadr aide confirmed that U.S. officials had approached the anti-American cleric’s supporters but said al-Sadr would never begin a dialogue with what he described as “occupation forces.”
“He has a grassroots movement that he’s always going to have; we have to recognize that,” Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the second-ranking American commander in Iraq, said in an interview this week. “We’re trying to talk to him. We want to talk to him.”
In a video conference from Baghdad on Thursday, Odierno also said the U.S. was reaching out to Sunni Muslims as well as Shiite armed factions such as alSadr’s Mahdi Army militia.
“We are talking about cease- fires and maybe signing some things that say they won’t conduct operations against the government of Iraq or against coalition forces,” he said Thursday.
At the same time, however, U.S. and British forces have stepped up operations against the Mahdi Army in the sprawling Shiite slum of Sadr City in Baghdad and the southern port city of Basra.
Odierno said he wasn’t sure whether al-Sadr’s resurfacing in the Shiite holy city of Kufa last week was good or bad for American forces in Iraq. While the cleric was away, his organization became more fractured, and part of the reason for his return, Odierno said, was “the consolidation of his powers.”
This could mean cleaning up rogue elements of the Mahdi Army, he said.
“I’m mixed; I’m not sure yet,” Odierno said, referring to the effect of al-Sadr’s return on security. “I’ll take a wait-and-see attitude.”
Also Thursday, Odierno suggested he might not be able to meet the September deadline for telling Congress whether President Bush’s military buildup in Iraq is working.
Odierno said he thinks it will take longer to tell whether the increase of nearly 30,000 troops will quell violence enough to give Iraqi officials space to work on reconciliation and development issues.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
