Shia leader Al-Sadr calls on Iraqis 'to resist'the US occupiers.

Shia leader Al-Sadr calls on Iraqis 'to resist'the US occupiers.Shia leader urges peaceful resistance and a rejection of violence in his first address since returning from exile.Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shia Muslim religious leader, has called on his followers to resist the "occupiers" of Iraq.In his first public address since returning from self-imposed exile, he called on the newly formed government to make sure all US forces left Iraq by the end of the year as planned."We are still resisting the occupation through armed, cultural and all kinds of resistance, so repeat after me: no, no to occupiers," al-Sadr told a crowd of thousands outside his ancestral home in Najaf on Saturday."Yes, yes for Muqtada! Yes, yes for the leader!" the crowd shouted, waving Iraqi flags and al-Sadr's pictures.David J. Ranz, the spokesman for the US embassy in Iraq, brushed off al-Sadr's remarks, saying the speech contained "nothing new".A security agreement between Washington and Baghdad requires all US forces to be out of Iraq by the end of the year, but officials in both countries have admitted that security forces are not yet ready to protect Iraq's borders from possible invasion.Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf in Baghdad said that al-Sadr's message specified ending the occupation as a key goal."He made clear reference to fighting them [the US forces] with all means necessary ... but he also made clear that this is a more disciplined Sadr organisation," she said."He said breaches would not be tolerated and that Iraqis would not assassinate Iraqis ... altogether a much more determined, perhaps a more disciplined Muqtada al-Sadr."Police and al-Sadr's guards were out in force in Al-Hanana, the area of Najaf where al-Sadr's home is located, and where he spoke.Al-Sadr left Iraq at the end of 2006, according to his movement, and had reportedly been pursuing religious studies in the Iranian holy city of Qom. He returned to his home city of Najaf on Wednesday.Iraq's new government, which was finally approved by parliament on December 21 after nine months of delays, includes six ministers from Sadr's bloc and the popular leader said that it must be given a chance to perform. "The government is new, so we should give it a chance to prove it is at the service of the people," Sadr said.Ali Al-Saffar, the deputy editor and Iraq analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said that al-Sadr's remarks about the government were probably more significant than the rhetoric about resistance."I think Muqtada al-Sadr has realised that times have changed since he left Iraq," he told al Jazeera from London.Hmmmmm.....More important is the question "What is Turkey's (IRAN's) Role in this"?related:"Iraq's Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday met with some 70 co-religionists in Istanbul, including members of the Iraqi parliament."He met Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan first for talks on "security in Iraq and the promotion of links between the parties," according to a Turkish diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity."Once Again i strongly recommend "GET TURKEY OUT OF NATO!"They are the ennemy within the Western defence!And what and how much exactly does the Obama administration know about all this?Read the full story here.