NAJAF, Iraq: The powerful redical Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has urged his followers to resist the United States with all means in his first public address in Iraq after four years in exile.
Addressing an a public meeting, Sadr also called on the newly formed government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to make sure all U.S. forces leave Iraq by the end of the year as planned. “We have the political means to reject the government if it does not provide security and services to its citizens,” he warned.
The Shiite cleric termed dubbed US, Israel and Britain as their common enemies.
But he reserved his harshest comments for the U.S., his primary foe, which invaded Iraq in 2003.
“Let the whole world hear that we reject America. No, no to the occupier,” al-Sadr said during his 35-minute speech. “We don’t kill Iraqis — our hands do not kill Iraqis. We target only the occupier with all the means of resistance.”
“The new government must work to get the occupier out of the country, in a suitable way,” Sadr said. “We heard a pledge from the government in this regard, and we are waiting for it to honor its word.”
Muqtada Al-Sadr, 37, left Iraq in 2007 for Iran.
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