Mahdi Army must disband, Maliki says, or lose political power
(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. More»
