Sadr disavows a planned U.S.-Iraqi crackdown

Days before U.S. and Iraqi troops are expected to establish a permanent presence in the Shiite stronghold named for his father, the anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr stepped up his rhetoric against the plan Saturday.

Sadr, in a statement issued by associates, did not threaten force against the troops, but he rejected U.S. and Iraqi officials’ statements in the last week that negotiations had cleared the way for the establishment of the joint security station in Sadr City.

Sadr’s words carry huge weight in Sadr City, a teeming poverty-stricken area in northeast Baghdad, and his opposition to the presence of American soldiers could throw a wrench into plans to set up the station.

Just hours before Sadr’s office issued its statement, dozens of civic leaders in Sadr City met to discuss the security plan. They said they would cooperate with it but also issued a written statement urging U.S. troops to leave Iraq as soon as possible. Failing that, they said, U.S. forces should “come into Islam and declare publicly taking Islam as their religion.”

Their mixed signals reflect the delicacy of the situation as U.S. and Iraqi officials prepare to bring to Sadr City their security crackdown, seen as a last-ditch effort to quell Baghdad’s sectarian warfare. On one hand, residents there crave safety and protection from attacks by Sunni Muslim insurgents. On the other hand, most are ideologically opposed to what they consider foreign invaders and say Sadr’s Al Mahdi militia and Iraq’s Shiite Muslim-led security forces should oversee security.

“Why Americans?” resident Sattar Jabbar Sharhan asked. “Even if they are with Iraqi troops, why? What is the reason?”

He echoed other locals’ arguments that the Al Mahdi army had done an admirable job of keeping the peace in Sadr City and that security forces should leave the neighborhood alone and focus on catching Sunni insurgents blamed for suicide car bombings, abductions and other bloodshed. “We didn’t make car bombs. We didn’t behead foreigners or Iraqis,” he said.

One local government leader, Sabri Aziz Nouri, said Sunni areas were the “real incubators of terrorism” so it made sense for the crackdown to focus on them. As for Sadr City, he said the U.S. presence was acceptable only if the Americans limited their role to advising Iraqi forces.

When the security plan launched Feb. 13, Sadr agreed to cooperate by reeling in his militia, and evidence of that was clear Saturday on the streets of Sadr City. Regular traffic police were at intersections and directed lines at gas stations, instead of the fearsome masked Al Mahdi gunmen who used to roam the streets and peer into cars. City workers were even planting some public gardens.

But on Saturday, Sadr said in his statement, “There are no negotiations with the occupation forces, not before and not later.”

His whereabouts remain unclear.

Sadr has not been seen publicly for weeks. His office says he is in Iraq, but U.S. officials have said he went to Iran to avoid the security crackdown.

One apparent indication of his militia’s inactivity has been the decrease in the number of bodies found daily around Baghdad, victims of executions blamed on Shiite death squads. Police said they had found 10 corpses since Friday night. In the weeks before the security crackdown, it was not unusual for more than 35 victims to turn up in a 24-hour period.

Bombings and other violence continue unabated, however. On Saturday, Iraqi police were targeted for the second consecutive day. A suicide bomber blew up his car at a police checkpoint in Ramadi, a center of Sunni insurgents west of the capital, and killed at least four policemen, police Capt. Khalil Mohammed Sarhan said. Two more police officers died when a hidden explosive detonated near their patrol in eastern Baghdad.

Sunni attackers frequently target police checkpoints, patrols and training centers. They accuse the mainly Shiite police and military of atrocities against Sunnis.

On Friday, at least 14 police officers in Diyala province, east of Baghdad, were abducted and killed as they drove back to their home village for a break. A group linked to Al Qaeda, whose members are Sunni, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was to avenge the purported rape of a Sunni woman by Shiite security forces last month.

South of the capital in a remote farming area, officials said, several members of a Sunni family were slain by gunmen who burst into their home, rounded up the men and killed them.

Local police said six men were killed and indicated that the crime was the result of a land dispute.

But a government official from the area said the victims were targeted for participating in a reconciliation conference with Shiites two weeks earlier.

North of Baghdad, U.S. military officials said, several “key terrorists” linked to an Al Qaeda cell that had been targeting military helicopters were believed killed in an airstrike Saturday. The air raid occurred outside Taji, the site of a major U.S. air base. The area has been the scene of frequent attacks on military choppers.

Since the start of the year, at least seven U.S. helicopters, including one civilian craft, have been shot down in Iraq.

susman@latimes.com

Times staff writer Suhail Ahmad and special correspondents in Baghdad, Ramadi and Hillah contributed to this report.