Fri 30 Mar 2007
In this file picture, Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gives a sermon during Friday prayers at the Kufa shrine in the holy city of Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, November 24, 2006. Moqtada al-Sadr launched one of his strongest broadsides against the United States on Friday, saying the invasion of Iraq had burdened the country with violence and poverty. REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish
Radical cleric Sadr blames U.S. for Iraq violence
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Radical Shi'ite Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr launched one of his strongest broadsides against the United States on Friday, saying the invasion of Iraq had burdened the country with violence and poverty.
Sadr, whom the U.S. military says is believed to be in Iran, urged Iraqis to protest in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf on April 9, the fourth anniversary of when American troops swept into central Baghdad in 2003.
"Iraq has endured difficult years because of this oppressive occupation that claims it removed the destroyer (Saddam Hussein) to bring the ghost of a fake democracy," Sadr said in a statement.
"It came to ... disarm banned weapons only to replace them with uglier weapons -- terrorism. Terrorism breeds terrorism," Sadr said, without elaborating.
