He’s back. After more than three years of self-imposed exile in Iran, the fiery Moqtada al-Sadr has returned to the holy city of Najaf. Sadr kept a relatively low profile during his time in Iran, but the pulpit-pounding cleric is unlikely to do the same in his home country. And there’s one good reason: Sadr is the man who helped Nuri al-Maliki keep his post as prime minister of Iraq.
For several years after the U.S. invasion in 2003, Sadr was seen as the spoiler in Iraqi politics. The Iraqi judiciary, under American pressure, even issued an arrest warrant for him in 2004. But Sadr, who’s thought to be 37, was the key figure in breaking the long political impasse that followed Iraqi elections last March. His supporters ran a very savvy and well-planned political campaign, and won 40 seats in that election. In October Sadr made a surprising move by throwing his support behind Maliki to stay on as prime minister. The two had been bitter rivals: Maliki approved several military operations targeting Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia in 2007 and 2008. Now Sadr is effectively the kingmaker who has put Maliki back in power. And it would be hard for him to cash in his newfound political capital while sitting in Iran. “He’s one of the main players on the scene,” says Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish parliamentarian. “He’s part of the political process now.”
