Sadr followers demand U.S. pullout

Torching American flags and demanding that U.S. troops leave Iraq, followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr gathered by the thousands Monday for a protest that marked the fourth anniversary of Saddam Hussein’s fall from power.

Shiite Muslims flocked to the shrine city of Najaf in a peaceful show of solidarity with Sadr, whose grass-roots movement has been squeezed by U.S. and Iraqi forces since the start of the Baghdad security plan two months ago.

The young cleric has so far cooperated with the security crackdown, reining in his fighters in the capital. But with a militia of as many as 60,000 men, he has the ability to unleash a significant armed force against U.S.-led troops.

On Monday, his fighters dressed in civilian clothes and not their trademark warrior black as they waved the Iraqi flag, joining Shiite and Sunni Muslim clerics and ordinary citizens in voicing anger and frustration over the U.S. government’s record in Iraq since it led the invasion in 2003.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, three U.S. soldiers were killed and another was wounded Monday by two explosions near their patrol, the U.S. military reported. It was not clear if the soldiers were on foot or in a vehicle.

The deaths would bring the U.S. troop fatalities in Iraq to 3,291, based on a count kept by icasualties.org, a website that tracks those figures.

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Sadr’s message

Sadr, who did not attend the Najaf protest and hasn’t been seen in public in weeks, sought in a statement read to the crowd to present himself as a representative of all Iraqis. “So far 48 months of anxiety, oppression and occupational tyranny have passed, four years which have only brought us more death, destruction and humiliation,” Sadr was quoted as saying. “Every day tens are martyred, tens are crippled, and every day we see and hear U.S. interference in every aspect of our lives, which means that we are not sovereign, not independent and therefore not free.

“This is what Iraq has harvested from the U.S. invasion.”

Sadr presented his victory as just a matter of time. He credited his Al Mahdi militia with the decision of British forces to hand over most of the southern city of Basra to Iraqi security units, and noted the opposition to the Iraq war among some U.S. lawmakers.

“It is in this historical moment that we direct our speech toward the American and European people: We are a people who love peace and independence and refuse to become slaves,” Sadr’s statement read. “We call upon the free people of the world to pressure their governments in order to put an end to the plight of the Iraqi people.”

His adherents clogged the road to Najaf, about 90 miles south of the capital, from the neighboring town of Kufa, pumping their fists in the air and shouting: “Yes to Iraq! Yes to sovereignty! No to occupation!” Some police officers joined in.

The next move of Sadr’s supporters is a riddle, with the cleric giving mixed signals as to whether he will continue to grudgingly back the government’s Baghdad security plan or call for an open fight against the Americans, as well as Sunni militants.

Sadr, who shot to power based on the legacy of his father, a grand ayatollah, has silenced the Al Mahdi militia’s guns in most of Baghdad. The decision has contributed to a decrease in the capital’s sectarian killings. But the militia’s members are restive and have had periodic clashes in western Baghdad with Iraqi soldiers. Some of Sadr’s fighters have gone into hiding; others have flocked to the south to battle the U.S.-led coalition away from Baghdad’s spotlight.

That tactic resulted in a clash over the weekend as Iraqi and U.S.-led forces routed Sadr’s militia in Diwaniya, which has been roiled by a competition between Al Mahdi fighters and the Badr Brigade, a rival Shiite group. At least 60 militiamen were killed or captured, and a U.S. soldier died, wire reports said, citing the U.S.-led coalition. The fighting subsided only after Sadr urged Iraqis to unite against the U.S., a supporter of the cleric said.

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A mystery

A great debate has emerged over how much control Sadr exerts over his rank and file. Some of his officers have worried openly about breakaway factions and creeping Iranian influence.

Even Sadr’s location is a mystery. The cleric disappeared before the start of the Baghdad security crackdown. U.S. officials and some close to Prime Minister Nouri Maliki say the fiercely nationalistic figure has run off to Iran. If that rumor proved true, it could damage his image among followers.

But so far, his vanishing has not cooled his followers’ devotion. Faraj Atwani drove to Najaf in a convoy of three sedans from Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood and cursed the Americans.

“Today is the day of Iraqis’ unity,” Atwani said. “We came to say the occupation must leave. Their lies can no longer fool anybody.

“For their own interests, they besieged our cities and killed our children,” he said. “I consider them looters because they only know the language of killing. We are the people of civilization and we only want stability for our country and not to see our houses’ walls covered with black funeral banners.”

Sayhoud Hatim Gataie drove to Najaf from the southeastern city of Amarah.

“I came to uphold my religion and in answer to Muqtada Sadr’s call; if he asks for my soul, I would gladly give it up to him,” Gataie said. “We came to demand the withdrawal of the occupation because our situation has reached the point where we cannot bear their presence anymore.”

Despite their simmering resentments, Al Mahdi militia members are apparently mindful of the damage they caused the Shiite community at large during their last large military uprising against U.S. forces in August 2004.

That campaign nearly leveled Najaf, and an Al Mahdi militia commander who goes by the name Abu Bakr said last month that the militia knew it could not beat the Americans’ firepower.

There was little violence in Iraq on Monday, as bans on vehicle traffic shut down Baghdad and Najaf. However, one person was killed and three wounded in a mortar attack in the Shiite section of the Baghdad suburb of Dora.

Two Iraqi soldiers and an oil protection guard were killed in a bomb blast north of Basra, the Iraqi military said.

Nine unidentified bodies were found dumped in Baghdad on Monday and two corpses were found in Babil province.

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ned.parker@latimes.com

Special correspondent Fakhrildeen reported from Najaf and Times staff writer Parker from Baghdad. Staff writers Said Rifai, Saif Hameed and Wail Alhafith in Baghdad contributed to this report.