US Occupiers 'Enemies of Iraq'- Al Sadr

Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shia Muslim religious leader, has called on his followers to resist the "occupiers" of Iraq. In his first public address since returning from self-imposed exile, he called on the newly formed government to make sure all US forces left Iraq by the end of the year as planned.
"We are still resisting the occupation through armed, cultural and all kinds of resistance, so repeat after me: no, no to occupiers," al-Sadr told a crowd of thousands outside his home in Najaf on Saturday.
"Yes, yes for Muqtada! Yes for the leader!" the crowd shouted, waving Iraqi flags and al-Sadr's pictures.
Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf in Baghdad said that al-Sadr's message specified ending the occupation as a key goal.
"He made clear reference to fighting them [the US forces] with all means necessary ... but he also made clear that this is a more disciplined Sadr organisation," she said.
"He said breaches would not be tolerated and that Iraqis would not assassinate Iraqis ... altogether a much more determined, perhaps a more disciplined Muqtada al-Sadr."
Police and al-Sadr's guards were out in force in Al-Hanana, the area of Najaf where al-Sadr's home is located, and where he spoke.Al-Sadr gained widespread popularity among Shias in the months after the 2003 US-led invasion, and his Mahdi Army militia later battled US and Iraqi government forces in several bloody confrontations.
But in August 2008, he suspended the activities of the Mahdi Army, which once numbered in the tens of thousands, after US and Iraqi assaults on its strongholds in Baghdad and southern Iraq in the spring.
Al-Sadr left Iraq at the end of 2006, according to his movement, and had reportedly been pursuing religious studies in the Iranian holy city of Qom. He returned to his home city of Najaf on Wednesday.