Want to know who really rules Iraq?
No, not Prime Minister Nouri ai-Maliki or the nation’s 275-member parliament. And certainly not the allied coalition.
The real ruler is self-anointed Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a sneering, chubby 20- or 30-something with an unkempt beard and goatee featuring a chin hole.
You’ve seen him in a black turban, scowling from portraits held by young, fiercely loyal armed religious fanatics flogging themselves with chains.
Muqtada speaks slangy Arabic with a lisp through rotten front teeth and lacks any formal education. A real poster boy for the 12th Century generation.
An aggressive, arrogant street punk, Muqtada is the son of revered cleric Muhamad Sadiq al-Sadr, who died in 1999. His militias are known to be behind most of the sectarian violence.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that former president Saddam Hussein, convicted but not sentenced or executed for genocide, might be rescued by followers and returned to power when the coalition turns him over to Iraqis during a strategic withdrawal. (3 DECEMBER 2006)
