U.S. fails to curb radical cleric

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A U.S.-led initiative to sideline militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr by bolstering support for his political rivals has gained little traction here and may even have strengthened al-Sadr's hand, according to interviews Friday with Iraqi politicians and clerics involved in the talks.

The effort to assemble a political bloc of so-called moderates to counter al-Sadr's growing influence was one of the recommendations National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley made in a secret White House memo that was leaked last month. U.S. officials hope such a coalition would ease Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's dependence on support from al-Sadr, whose followers, U.S. officials say, are responsible for much of the violence convulsing Baghdad.

But few Iraqi politicians have been willing to go along with the plan, which was riddled with problems from the onset, Iraqi officials said. U.S. backing for a new coalition has allowed al-Sadr to portray his opponents as American lackeys, they added.

"This idea was a non-starter," said Haider Abadi, a legislator and senior member of al-Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party. "The U.S. administration is under pressure. They want to win public opinion by showing some form of progress, without knowing the situation on the ground. ... It caused more problems than it solved."

The proposal to form a moderate contingent has been under discussion for months, but took on new urgency with the release of the Hadley memo, which suggested the U.S. help form "a new political base among moderate politicians from Sunni, Shia, Kurdish and other communities."

Only five groups were to be included in the bloc: the Dawa Party, the Iranian-backed Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the two leading Kurdish factions, and the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is Iraq's largest Sunni party.

Leaders from three of the five parties — SCIRI's head, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim; al-Maliki, a member of the Dawa Party; and Tariq al-Hashemi, Iraq's vice president and a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party — have met with President Bush in recent weeks.

Since those meetings, however, even politicians who initially supported the effort have distanced themselves, mindful of crossing the powerful and popular al-Sadr or incurring the wrath of Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's highest-ranking Shiite cleric, who has withheld comment on the proposal.

Al-Sistani's main concern is keeping intact the Shiite coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, which controls by far the most seats in parliament and includes SCIRI, Dawa and al-Sadr's supporters. Hamad al-Khafaf, al-Sistani's spokesman, flatly denied reports that the cleric had given the green light for a new bloc.

"His Eminence hasn't yet heard from all the politicians about this," Khafaf said.

Instead, the established Shiite parties are now attempting to persuade al-Sadr to end a boycott of the government by his 30 legislators and six Cabinet ministers. The boycott was declared to protest al-Maliki's meeting with Bush in Amman, Jordan, on Nov. 30.

Haitham Husseini, a spokesman and adviser of SCIRI, said the proposal ran into problems with the widespread portrayal of a new coalition as an antidote to al-Sadr.

Husseini wouldn't go so far as to say that the talks were dead, but he focused on efforts to bring al-Sadr into the fold, rather than isolate him, as the Bush administration had envisioned.

"All of these leaders who are in this group believe in the necessity of not excluding anybody," Husseini said.

Al-Sadr's supporters appear unintimidated by U.S. proposals for a new coalition. On Friday, an al-Sadr spokesman in Najaf said the cleric had declined to meet with a delegation of senior Shiite officials at his home there. Waleed al-Zamali also denied reports that al-Sadr had agreed to end his boycott of the government.

"The Sadr movement strongly denies that the members of the Sadrist bloc have returned to the government or parliament," al-Zamali said. "Their suspension will continue."

A key al-Sadr adviser told Al-Jazeera television that al-Sadr is contemplating calling for early elections. Many here believe that al-Sadr would win additional seats in the parliament if elections were held now.

McClatchy Newspapers reporters Qassim Zein, Shatha al Awsy, Laith Hammoudi and Mohammed al Dulaimy contributed to this report.