April 16, 2007

Iraqi lawmakers loyal to Sadr quit parliament

Six Cabinet members loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr quit today to protest the prime minister's support for the U.S. occupation, increasing tensions in the fractious government as it struggles to contain sectarian violence. "If we do not get political accommodation among the major Iraqi political groups on the big issues, then there is no hope of turning Iraq around, and all our troops are doing is delaying an inevitable disaster of descent into much larger scale civil war," said CDDRL's Larry Diamond.

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