Anti-U.S. Cleric Returns to Iraq

In another sign of deteriorating U.S. influence in Iraq, the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has returned to the country from exile in Iran, where he went in 2007 after his Shiite militia fought many off-and-on battles with U.S. forces. Sadr returned some months after his party won 40 seats in the Iraqi parliament, allowing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to retain another term. Sadr has long called for the departure of U.S. troops from his country, and his return will complicate matters for remaining U.S. forces, who plan to be out by the end of 2011. Once he arrived in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Sadr toured the home of his father, a cleric who challenged Saddam Hussein's rule and was killed by Sunnis, and went with his bodyguards to an important shrine for prayers.