With none of the fanfare of his homecoming last year — which was quickly followed by his return to Iran — Mr. Sadr says he is back in Iraq to stay, at least for now. He says he has temporarily put aside his religious studies in Iran, widely considered his patron, to attend to a political crisis here over contests for power among Iraq’s Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds that has brought the government to a standstill, and to position his movement for the next elections.
Notably, Mr. Sadr has joined Sunnis and Kurds in calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a fellow Shiite. He is also testing other cross-sectarian alliances by inviting Sunni and Christian candidates to run in provincial elections, scheduled for next year, under the Sadrist banner. Together, these moves could help position him as a nationalist and help him shed the baggage of the past, when his militias were linked to some of the worst sectarian violence.
I'm sure that Sadr would never consider violence again if his political maneuvering falls flat, eh?
Certainly, the Iraqi government is stronger now than it was in the past when it battled Sadr.
But if Iraq's political process falters and the militias come out again, Sadr could tilt the balance of power--and provide an avenue for Iran to intervene more openly in Iraq's battles for power.
Sadr has had three strikes, yet still he takes swings. If the rules of the game are that he keeps playing his game with no chance of getting out, why won't he keep playing?
