Sadr ministers agree with Democrats on withrawal timetable

Washington Post:

In a move that could further weaken Iraq's fledgling government, six cabinet members loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will quit their jobs Monday at his behest, officials close to Sadr said Sunday night.

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Sadr asked the ministers to resign in protest of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's unwillingness to back a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, said Abdul Razaq al-Nadawi, a Sadr spokesman, and Abdul Mahdi al-Mutairy, a Sadr political adviser. Bahaa al-Aaraji, a Shiite lawmaker in the 30-seat legislative bloc loyal to Sadr, said Sadrists also were fed up with sectarian squabbling and would ask Maliki to appoint "independent technocrats" to the posts.

With his Mahdi Army militia under orders to stand down, Sadr appeared to be ratcheting up political pressure on Maliki.

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At this point Mookie may just be agreeing in principal with the Democrats since the Post did not give a specific timetable to see how closely it corresponded with the Democrats plan. In fact the Post did not even note the similarity in policies of the Sadr party and the Democrats. Perhaps they will update the story once this blog post is brought to their attention. They can probably get David Ignatius to do a story on a potential break through agreement in Iraq. He does seem to have that beat locked down.