The statement from Sadr, whose Mehdi Army militia fought US troops until 2008, follows a deal by Iraqi leaders to allow Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki to negotiate with the United States on whether to keep trainers in Iraq after the deadline.
Sadr followers have sent mixed messages on that, but any deal to keep US troops in Iraq, even as trainers, remains a sensitive issue in Baghdad and Washington eight years after the US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
“Whoever stays in Iraq will be treated as an unjust invader and should be opposed with military resistance,” Sadr said in a statement published on a pro-Sadr website on Saturday. “A government which agrees for them to stay, even for training, is a weak government.”
Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia has for the most part demobilized, but US officials say Sadrist splinter groups have continued to attack US troops still stationed in Iraq.
Violence in Iraq has eased sharply since sectarian bloodshed peaked four years ago, but bombings and assassinations are still carried out almost daily by extremists.
Sadr himself is now part of mainstream politics and a key ally to Al-Maliki in his fragile power-sharing coalition. Sadr’s representatives walked out of last week’s discussions on US troops, signaling possible dissension within the coalition.
US and Iraqi officials agree that Iraq’s security forces are capable of taking on internal threats, but say they need training in heavy conventional weaponry like tanks, and in air and naval defenses. Details of any deal are far from clear, and an agreement would need to pass through Parliament.
