Iraqi government must not make radical cleric a victor

As the new Iraqi government attempts to gain legitimacy and quell the 16-month insurgency that has made the road to democracy an obstacle course, the idea of inviting radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi militia into the political process is not only ludicrous, but dangerous.
Yet, that's exactly what the interim government has proposed in an effort to end the siege of the Imam Ali Shrine, one of Shia Islam's holiest sites, and persuade al-Sadr and his followers to lay down their weapons. The shrine has been at the center of the fighting that erupted Aug. 5. Mahdi Army militants used the site as a stronghold and a refuge, knowing that U.S. forces would not enter for fear of angering Iraq's Shiite majority.
Last week, the interim government warned that Iraqi troops might storm the shrine, but officials subsequently changed their tone, saying they intended to resolve the crisis without an assault.
Bombshell
Then on Sunday, in an interview with veteran CNN journalist Wolf Blitzer, Iraq's ambassador to the U.S., Rend Al-Rahim, dropped a bombshell.
"What are you hearing from your government now on the standoff in Najaf?" Blitzer, host of the Sunday show "CNN Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer," asked the ambassador.
"Well, first of all, I should tell you that the standoff is a question of restraint that the Iraqi government is choosing to impose on itself, because we do respect the shrine, as this Mahdi army does not. And we do not want to attack it. We do want a peaceful solution.
"But ultimately, Wolf, this is a question of the rule of law in Iraq, whether the rule of law will prevail, about Iraq's political future, about whether our politics in Iraq will be carried out at the end of a barrel of a gun or through dialogue and political participation."
"Are you going to arrest Muqtada al-Sadr or let him become part of the political process in Iraq?" Blitzer asked.
Al-Rahim replied: "An invitation to him has been issued to become part of the political process."
To which Blitzer said: "That's so shocking to a lot of Americans in particular. He's been ordering his militia, the so-called Mahdi militia, to go ahead and kill U.S. and other coalition forces ..."
The ambassador then tried to explain the decision.
"The terms have been offered to Muqtada al-Sadr are indeed generous from the government. The whole Mahdi army movement has been invited to disband, disarm and become a political movement. Now, if there are particular legal charges against individuals, those will be pursued in the courts. But as a whole, this should be turned into a political movement."
Weakness
Such capitulation on the part of the government not only reveals a basic weakness that does not bode well for Iraq's future, but opens the door to other militia groups and insurgent movements to hold the nation hostage in order to exact concessions.
Al-Rahim is right. It is a question of rule of law in Iraq. That is why the interim government must not give the lawless 30-something firebrand cleric, who has fomented anti-American sentiment throughout the land, a pardon. Al-Sadr has spilled the blood of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops and civilians.
The challenges facing Iraq are enormous and the government has the unenviable task of keeping the various religious and ethnic factions together. An invitation to al-Sadr to turn his band of marauders into a political organization will be viewed with suspicion and alarm by the Sunnis and Kurds, in particular.
There should be a clear message to al-Sadr and his militia: Surrender or you will be destroyed.