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Hakim urges Shiite-Sunni cooperation

One of Iraq's most powerful Shiite political and religious figures issued a stunning call for the government to set aside differences with Sunni Muslim politicians and entice them back to help lead the country.

The appeal on Friday by Ammar al-Hakim, the son and heir-apparent to the head of Iraq's main Shiite political bloc, sharply increased pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to bring Sunni factions back into the fold as part of US-backed efforts at sectarian reconciliation.

It also could push al-Maliki's government to accelerate steps to integrate armed Sunni groups that have joined the fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq and other extremists. The US has credited the so-called "Awakening Councils" with helping uproot insurgents and has urged Iraq's Shiite leadership to reward the new Sunni allies with security force posts.

The Awakening Councils have played a role in a major US offensive launched this week, an operation that included one of the most intense airstrikes of the war.

A top US commander said on Thursday's bombing blitz south of Baghdad destroyed extremists' "defensive belts" and allowed US soldiers to push into areas where they have not been in years.

The US is also counting on political support from al-Hakim and his father, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council -- the country's pre-eminent Shiite political grouping.

The elder al-Hakim, who has been a close ally to the US since the 2003 invasion, has been diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent chemotherapy last year in Iran, where he spent years in exile during Saddam Hussein's rule.

Ammar al-Hakim, a moderate Shiite like his father, has taken an increasingly vocal role as his father has undergone medical care.

"I hope that the government will take all needed measures to secure" the return of key Sunni political groups, Ammar al-Hakim said from the pulpit of the Buratha mosque. The main Sunni political organization -- the Accordance Front -- and the secular Iraqi List left the government after disputes over al-Maliki's leadership.

But in a bid to address both sides of Iraq's Sunni-Shiite sectarian split, al-Hakim also said al-Maliki needs to reach out to "our brothers" in two Shiite parties that are deeply at odds with the prime minister. One is the religious Fadhilah party and the other is the powerful movement led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Rival Shiite groups have waged increasingly bloody power struggles for pre-eminence in oil-rich southern Iraq.

"Our strength is in our unity. The bigger the circle of participation, the stronger we will be in solving our problems and making progress," al-Hakim said.

As violence falls in Iraq, politics and reconciliation efforts push to the front. The US introduced 30,000 additional troops into Iraq by the middle of last year with the objective of calming raging violence so the al-Maliki government could gain breathing space to foster common ground among the majority Shiite, Sunnis and Kurds.

But there is little public evidence that al-Maliki has or is inclined to use the peaceful environment to move ahead politically.

Al-Hakim's pointed words on Friday echoed frustration being voiced by many in Iraq and the US over what appears to be foot-dragging by al-Maliki and the country's fractured parliament to adopt reforms aimed at bridging sectarian rifts.
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