CONFLICTING VIEWS ON IRAQ: CONDI RICE VS. MUQTADA AL-SADR

Rice praises Iraq unity as cleric threatens war

by Lachlan Carmichael 2 hours, 17 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080420/ts_afp/iraq

BAGHDAD (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a surprise visit to Baghdad on Sunday said Iraqi leaders were more united than ever, as Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr warned of a war against the government.

Rice also said that security in Iraq had improved but, during her stay in Baghdad's Green Zone, the heavily fortified area was rocked by an explosion which, according to a US official, could have been a rocket attack.

More than 60 people, including 40 Shiite fighters, were reported killed since Saturday in clashes with security forces, Iraqi and US officials said.

"I see a coalescing of a centre in Iraqi politics in which the Sunnis, the Kurdish leadership and the elements of the Shiite leadership that are not associated with these 'Special Groups' (alleged Iranian-backed Shiite groups) have been working better than at any time before," she said.
"It is indeed a moment of opportunity in Iraq thanks to the decision of the Iraqi prime minister and the unified Iraqi leadership."

The US military claims that "Special Groups", many of them from Sadr's feared Mahdi Army militia, are being trained by Iranian covert agents to fight American forces in Iraq.
Rice stopped in Baghdad before heading to Bahrain and then on to Kuwait for talks on a regional conference of Iraq's neighbours on Tuesday on the battered country's security.

Her visit comes a day after Sadr threatened to declare "open war" if the crackdown by Iraqi and US forces against his loyalists is not halted.

Rice gave a cautious response to Sadr's latest salvo which came as Iraqi and US forces battle Shiite militiamen, mostly from his Mahdi Army militia, in Baghdad's Sadr City and in the southern city of Basra.

"It's been very difficult to get a read of what his motivations are and what his intentions are," Rice said.
"I know he's living in Iran. I guess it's all-out war for everybody but him. His followers can go to their deaths and he will still be living in Iran. I don't know how seriously to take him or not."