Al Sadr pulls ministers from Iraqi government.

Posted by Joshua Holland at 7:12 AM on April 16, 2007.

It's amazing how little attention the commercial media is giving to the unraveling of the occupation-backed Iraqi government.

For two years, the regime has refused to -- or been unable to -- request a timeline for U.S. forces to withdrawal, as most Iraqis want. The idea that a government installed by a foreign army could simply ignore the clear will of a supermajority of the Iraqi people and maintain even a modicum of popular legitimacy was always fantastic.

Now, the Iraqi nationalists' patience appears to be at an end …

The political movement of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr today ordered its six cabinet ministers to quit the Iraqi government.

Sadr officials confirmed the withdrawal at a news conference, saying it had been caused by the refusal of the Shia prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

Referring to last Monday's mass rally of Sadr supporters in the city of Najaf, Nassar al-Rubaie, the head of the Sadrist bloc in parliament, said: "They went out in a demonstration in their millions asking for a timetable for withdrawal.

"We noticed the prime minister's response did not express the will of the people.

"For the public benefit and lifting the suffering of the patient Iraqi people … we found it necessary to issue an order to the ministers of the Sadrist bloc to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi government."

Although Mr Sadr's support played a large role in Mr Maliki coming to power, today's resignations are unlikely to bring his administration down.

The Sadr ministers did not hold any key ministerial portfolios, and officials indicated that his bloc's 30 members of parliament would continue their normal participation in the Iraqi parliament.

However, the resignations could create further tensions in Mr Maliki's already fractious administration, and there are likely to be anxieties over how to keep Mr Sadr engaged in the mainstream political process.

Dilip Hiro, who's forgotten more about Iraq than most analysts ever knew, says that the end of the Iraqis' ability to tolerate the occupation is "The nightmare Bush dreads most". Read it.

Tagged as: iraq, al sadr

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.