Letters to the Editor
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there are probably subtleties I don't know about but ...
Moktada al Sadr (and his father) come from the slums of Baghdad .. they are Shiia, they are nationalists, they have reached out to Sunnis from time to time. They oppose the formation of a tripartite Iraq ... They are wary of Iran.
My impression is the Sciri is much more pro-Iranian, they are interested in a southern Shia "state" which will have all that oil revenue (and the Kurds will have their oil fields, leaving the Sunnis with the "capital" (which they have left in droves) and little else).
I am curious of the whereabouts of Ali Sistani ... He apparently is part of the Iraqi elite (which Chalabi is part of -- the wealthy upper class) ... he saw Al Sadr as a rival ... and really did a number on his reputation in the first years of the occupation.
Al-Sadr for all intents and purposes WON the battle of Najaf ... against the United State and the "Alliance" ... it was, irrc, a large part of his expanding his base to become a national figure ...