From The Pravda RU

President George W. Bush was called “greatest evil” Saturday by Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for refusing to withdraw American troops from Iraq.

Al-Sadr’s statement was read during a parliament session by his cousin, Liqaa al-Yassin, after the U.S. Congress ordered U.S. troops to begin leaving Iraq by Oct. 1. Bush pledged to veto the measure and neither the House nor the Senate passed the measure with enough votes to override him.

“Here are the Democrats calling you to withdraw or even set a timetable and you are not responding,” al-Sadr’s statement said. “It is not only them who are calling for this but also Republicans, to whom you belong.”

“If you are ignoring your friends and partners, then it is no wonder that you ignore the international and Iraqi points of view. You will not benefit from this stubbornness,” he added.

Al-Sadr led two armed uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004, and his Mahdi militia is believed responsible for much of the sectarian killing that pushed this country into civil conflict.

The U.S. military says he has fled to Iran, although his followers insist he is hiding in Iraq.

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