Iraqi Shi'ite leaders seal pact to curb violence

[AYFR]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's two most powerful Shi'ite leaders have signed their first written agreement, pledging to prevent bloodshed by working together to avoid confrontation, Iraqi officials said on Saturday.

Supporters of fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) are locked in a violent struggle for control of the towns and cities in Iraq's predominantly Shi'ite south.

Political analysts fear the struggle for dominance in the southern regions, where U.S. forces have little or no presence, will intensify ahead provincial elections expected next year.

"Sayyed Abdul Aziz al-Hakim and Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr have agreed on the necessity of preserving and respecting Iraqi blood under any condition," said the agreement signed by Hakim and Sadr and seen by Reuters on Saturday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071006/ts_nm/iraq_dc;_ylt=AtkzdlXLQx19cqpHylxEh1534T0D


Nope y'all are right there is no progress in Iraq. :godzilla

[AYFR]

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Two of Iraq's most influential Shiite clerics and political figures, Moqtada al-Sadr and Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, agreed a deal on Saturday aimed at ending years of deadly rivalry.

Sadr's movement, which ballooned in terms of support on the Iraqi streets after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, is backed by a thousands-strong militia known as the Mahdi Army and is the most powerful Shiite group in Iraq.

Hakim leads the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), another of the more significant Shiite factions in the country and a pillar of the ruling coalition.

The two dynasties have clashed repeatedly in the past in their competition for control of Iraq's majority Shiite community.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071006/wl_afp/iraqpoliticsshiite;_ylt=AoNE4qYT5kszrzjXvaSTiMp34T 0D

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