al-Sadr's Change of Heart

Remember Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric and the head of the Imam Mehdi Army, who tried to go toe-to-toe with the U.S. military this summer?

Well, this story is certainly good news. This AP reporter writes on the various security situations, mostly in Mosul, that are affecting the January 30th elections and towards the end of his story is this nugget:

Elsewhere, about 300 followers of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr began a three-day sit-in in front of the Oil Ministry in Baghdad to protest gasoline shortages that have caused hours-long waits at gas stations.

About a dozen of them entered the ministry and complained to Minister Thamir Ghadbhan, asking why U.S. troops have fuel for their vehicles and Iraqis don't.

Notice what the story doesn't say: no guns, no beheadings of innocent Iraqis who cooperate with the Americans, no hunkering down in holy shrines taking pot shots at their enemies. Instead, we see a peaceful demonstration in front of a government building. The U.S. Army completely embarrassed the young cleric and his followers during their last standoff, however that alone wasn't what changed al-Sadr's tactics.

Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani ended the standoff in Najaf by negotiating a truce between U.S. forces and the holed up cleric's rebellion. The truce not only ended the fighting, it reenforced al-Sistani as the leader who truly has the popular support in the Shiite community. This is very important, as al-Sistani has been the leader who rejected Iranian support for armed rebellion, backed free elections and has been a proponent of emphasizing the government's ability to implement the rule of law. Al-Sadr knows that if he were to try another armed rebellion, it would most likely be put down not by the Americans, but by Sistani's supporters.

It is going to take a team approach to bring democracy to Iraq. The U.S. needs to keep hunting down Baathist insurgents and terrorists, while Iraqi leaders, with a vision of their country's future, need to marginalize the extremists and put their faith in a future free-Iraq governed by its people.

Only five-months since the armed conflict ended, one of Iraq's biggest radicals has been reduced to a sit-in on the steps of the Oil Ministry. We aren't at the goal-line yet, however, signs like this are encouraging.