Anti-U.S. cleric criticizes Iraqi gov't

[maddezmom]

NAJAF, Iraq - Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr sharply criticized Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government on Sunday and once again demanded that all foreign troops leave the country.

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Al-Sadr's criticism comes at a time when relations between his Sadrist movement and al-Maliki's coalition government he supports are at a low ebb, with the prime minister coming under mounting pressure to end his alliance with the radical Shiite cleric.

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Al-Sadr, in a statement issued Sunday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad, said al-Maliki's government has no right to go it alone. Nor should it have sought the U.N. Security Council's recent renewal of the mandate of the multinational forces in Iraq. Such a move should have been taken by "the people," a reference to the 275-seat parliament, the cleric said.

Alluding to al-Maliki's summit with Bush, al-Sadr said: "Yesterday's friends are today's enemies, and yesterday's enemies are today's friends." He also criticized the Iraqi government's widely reported contacts with leaders of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party as part of its efforts to reach national reconciliation.

"Baath has been our enemy. Now it sits to talk with our friends," he said.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061210/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_shiite_cleric