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July 5, 2008 5:28:22 PM CDT

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Iraqi PM: No Elections for Militias

Posted Apr 7, 08 8:32 AM CDT in World    Most Covered

(Newser) – Muqtada al-Sadr and his loyalists will be banned from upcoming elections if the Mahdi Army doesn't disband, Nouri al-Maliki said today, in his toughest rhetoric yet against the popular cleric. Sadrists say the Iraqi PM has no constitutional power to make that threat, but even if lawmakers succeed in banning parties that operate militias, the backlash could be violent, the AP reports.

Sadr supported Maliki in 2006, but now the Shiite leaders are bitter rivals. Sadrists say the prime minister’s moves against them—like the recent offensive against the Mahdi Army in Basra—are attempts to diminish Sadr’s political standing ahead of this fall’s elections. Meanwhile at least five American soldiers were killed yesterday by roadside bombs and rockets flung into the Green Zone.

Source Associated Press

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Iraqi Shiites attend Friday prayers in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Friday, April. 4, 2008.   (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)
Iraqis hoist images of the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during a pro-government rally in Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq , Friday, March 28, 2008.   (AP Photo/ Ahmed Alhussainey)
Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, right, speaks during a press conference in Baghdad in this Oct. 3, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)
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Iraq  • Nouri al Maliki  • Muqtada al-Sadr  • Mahdi Army  • Iraq government  • Sadr City  • Green Zone  • Sadrists  • Iraqi militias


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