Region | Iraq
Al Sadr's Mehdi Army to disarm if US withdraws on time
The Mehdi Army of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr would disarm if the United States withdraws troops according to plan, a spokesman said.
- Agencies
- Published: 15:05 August 8, 2008
Baghdad: The Mehdi Army of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr would disarm if the United States withdraws troops according to plan, a spokesman said.
Iraqi negotiators have proposed a timetable of US troop withdrawal by October 2010, although Washington has not yet agreed to it, a senior Iraqi official said on Friday.
"We feel there's a serious intention by the American forces for a withdrawal timetable at the very least," Sadr's spokesman Salah Al Ubaidi said on Friday.
"It should not be considered an end to the Mehdi army, but it's a halfway step to dissolving the Mehdi Army. If the US began to implement a withdrawal timetable we shall complete the path to dissolution," Ubaidi said.
At least 144,000 US troops remain in Iraq.
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