The Common Ills: Moqtada retires (again)

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Moqtada retires (again)

Moqtada al-Sadr is a cleric and movement leader in Iraq. Today he is in the news for a surprising development. As Iraq prepares for April 30th parliamentary elections, Moqtada is apparently announcing his retirement.

Alsumaria reports he released a statement Saturday evening announcing he was closing all of his offices and retiring from all thigns political. Kitabat also reports the surprise development.

If true, this would not be Moqtada's first attempt to step away from politics. Not even his first attempt recently.

Last August, he announced he was stepping away from politics. Shortly after, he changed his mind. From the September 12th snapshot:

Turning to Iraqi politics, Kitabat reports cleric and movement Moqtada al-Sadr has finished trips to Lebanon and Jordan and paid his respects to his late father at the Najaf shrine and is now ready to re-enter political life. Moqtada has surprised many by announcing he was stepping away from politics. Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi publicly called for Moqtada to return to politics. Allawi's sentiments were echoed by Iraqis of all sects, not just Shi'ite members of Moqtada's movement. In a statement issued today, Moqtada acknowledged those calls and announces he will heed them.

Some felt the move was a stunt and said so in real time. Whether it was a stunt or not (it felt like a real announcement and decision to me when he announced he was walking away from politics), the move underscores how important Moqtada has become to Iraqi politics and how he could command respect in the role of prime minister. Because of the stances he has taken in the last three years, Moqtada the politician is seen as fighting for the interests of Iraq. That's a huge shift from the early years of the war when Moqtada was seen by many Iraqis as only interested in Shi'ites (and only in fundamental ones at that).

What is interesting, if the reports are true, is the timing.

Yesterday's snapshot noted Nouri has prepared warrants out for various political rivals.

Moqtada's announcement in August followed Nouri declaring Moqtada was responsible for the violence.

Don't expect the western outlets to point out that. They overlooked it the first time around and none of them are reporting on Moqtada's announcement as I type this.

Nouri has a long history of attempting to railroad his political rivals. BBC News reports on one today, Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi:

The former vice president of Iraq has blamed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the country's crisis.