Iraq's Firebrand Cleric Tones Down Rhetoric, but His Motives Are Suspect

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http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAJ8QSITMD.html

KUFA, Iraq (AP) - A Shiite Muslim firebrand who has been a thorn in the side of Iraq's American administrators is showing a more conciliatory side. Gone is the talk of setting up a rival government and the denounciations of rivals. Now he says Saddam Hussein - not America - is the enemy of Iraqis.

Muqtada al-Sadr's new tone may have more to do with fear of arrest than any decision to abandon his quest for leadership of Iraq's Shiite majority, coalition officials believe.

Nonetheless, it's a radical departure for the 30-year-old al-Sadr, whose fiery anti-American sermons raised fears of a new front in the battle against the American occupation. In a rapid rise to prominence this year, backed by young clerics and mostly poor, urban Shiites, he challenged the religious elders of Iraq's Shiite leadership.

Now, al-Sadr is opening channels of dialogue with Shiite groups he once dismissed, his aides say. And he is striving to attract educated Iraqis to his movement by toning down his rhetoric.

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[Maple]

1. Oh yeah, he was about to be

arrested last we heard.

So now he probably says this stuff, and crosses his fingers while doing so, or some other such gesture that tips off his audience.

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2. It was reported they were on there way to get him a week or so ago n/t