Iraqi PM says crackdown shows he's not sectarian

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

* Maliki says crackdown shows he is not sectarian

* Sadrists deny truce means they have to hand in guns

* Iran played a role in truce accord, Iraqi MP says

By Waleed Ibrahim and Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD, May 12 (Reuters) - Iraq's prime minister said on Monday a crackdown on Shi'ite militias proved his government was not sectarian, in the face of persistent accusations by Sunni Arabs that he has favoured Shi'ites since taking office.

Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist, ordered an operation against Shi'ite militias in the southern city of Basra in late March to break their grip on Iraq's hub for oil exports.

The offensive sparked fierce resistance from the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. While fighting with security forces eased in Basra within a week, clashes with Shi'ite gunmen raged in the cleric's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City until an agreement last weekend to halt fighting.

"The events of the past weeks have proven that we are neutral, not biased, that we did not take the side of this party or this sect against another," Maliki said of his Shi'ite-led government in a speech to parliament.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12649729.htm

---

Iran hard-liners come out against Iraqi-US deal
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - Two hard-line newspapers seen as speaking for Iran's clerical establishment called Monday for Iraqis to oppose a strategic framework deal with the United States, Tehran's first public condemnation of the arrangement.

The papers accused Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of caving in to American demands over the pact.

Al-Maliki's government and the U.S. began negotiations in March on the deal meant to provide for long-term bilateral ties and a status of forces arrangement regulating U.S. military operations in Iraq.

The Jomhuri-e-Eslami daily said in a front-page editorial that the deal would be "capitulation the U.S. has imposed on the oppressed Iraqi people," and urged Iraqis to turn to "a popular revolution" that would bring about the "expulsion of the occupiers" from Iraq.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080512/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_iraq_us