Head of the Al-Sadr parliamentary bloc
Nassar Al-Rubai (2nd R) speaks during a news conference in Baghdad April
16, 2007. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his ministers to quit
Iraq's government on Monday in protest at Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's
refusal to set a timetable for U.S. troops to withdraw. (Xinhua/Reuters
Photo)
BAGHDAD, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The political bloc of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Monday withdrew from the Iraqi government, said an official from Sadr bloc.
Lawmaker Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the Sadr movement, said that cleric al-Sadr ordered his six ministers in the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to withdraw from the government immediately.
"Considering the public interest, we found that it
was necessary to issue an order to the ministers of the Sadr bloc to immediately
withdraw from the Iraqi government," Rubaie said in a statement read to
reporters in a news conference. He explained that Sadr's move came to press a
demand for timetable of the U.S. troops' withdrawal.
Meanwhile, he expressed hope that the vacant
portfolios left by the six ministers "will be given to independents who
represent the will of the people."
The bloc's 30 legislators will continue to
participate in the parliament.
Sadr, a key political ally of Iraqi Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki, led his Mahdi Army militia in two uprisings against the American
military in 2004 and has long demanded U.S. forces leave Iraq.
"The prime minister has to express the will of the
Iraqi people. Millions of Iraqis went out in a demonstration asking for a
timetable for U.S. troops withdrawal. But the prime minister's response did not
express the will of the people," Rubaie said in the statement.
On April 9, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets
in southern holy cities of Kufa and Najaf to protest against the U.S. troops
presence in Iraq four years after the fall of Baghdad. Last November, the
political bloc announced suspension of their role in parliament and government
to protest Maliki's meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush. However, the
bloc returned to the Iraqi political arena months later.
Head of the Al-Sadr parliamentary bloc
Nassar Al-Rubai (C) speaks during a news conference in Baghdad April 16,
2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The White House said
Monday that the withdrawal of the political bloc of anti-American Shiite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr would not affect the Iraqi coalition government headed by Prime
Minister Nuri al-Malik.
"Coalitions in those types of parliamentary democracies
can come and go," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said as Sadr, a
Shiite hardliner, ordered his six ministers in the government to withdraw from
the government immediately. Full story
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