Muqtada al-Sadr to leave government if al-Maliki meets Bush

Gulf Times

The political group of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday threatened to pull out of Iraq's national unity government if Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has a scheduled meeting with US President George W Bush in Jordan next week.

"We will withdraw from the government and parliament if the prime minister meets Bush in Jordan," a statement from the group said, adding that it would also withdraw if the security situation did not improve.

Bush and Maliki are due in Jordan on November 29 for talks on the situation in Iraq.

The group, which has 30 MPs in the 275-member parliament, is a major supporter of Maliki's Shia-led government and was key to his appointment as prime minister over the choices of other Shia parties.

The group demanded that the government "specify the nature of its relations with the occupation forces", and once again demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of US-led troops from Iraq. Link