Washington Post: Iraqi Shiite leader will not sit idle if Iran is attacked

The Washington Post report said yesterday that Iraqi major Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sader had promised to help Iran if it is attacked. The report spoke about the strong militia al-Sadr leads in Iraq, and his opposition to the US presence in Iraq.

The Washington Post report quoted Joseph Cirincione, an Iraq and nuclear weapons expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington saying "If there was an attack on Iran, even a limited military strike, this would provoke anger through the entire Muslim world. It would certainly jeopardize the already fragile position of the United States in Iraq."

The Washington Post report said that the pledge by al-Sadr "was also one of the strongest signs yet that Iraq could become a battleground in any Western conflict with Iran, raising the specter of Iraqi Shiite militias -- or perhaps even the US-trained Shiite-dominated military -- taking on American troops here in sympathy with Iran."