Shia politicians threaten to quit Maliki govt

Iraqi Cabinet ministers allied to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today threatened to quit the government to protest against the prime minister’s lack of support for a timetable for US withdrawal.

Such a pull-out by the very bloc that put Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in office could collapse his already perilously weak government.

The threat comes two months into a US effort to pacify Baghdad in order to give Mr Maliki’s government room to function.

Mr Al-Sadr’s political committee issued the statement a day after Mr Maliki rejected an immediate US troop withdrawal.

“We see no need for a withdrawal timetable. We are working as fast as we can,” Mr Maliki said during his four-day trip to Japan.

Mr Maliki said “achievements on the ground” would dictate how long American troops remained.

Mr Maliki spoke a day after tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of two Shiite holy cities, on Mr al-Sadr’s orders, to protest against the US presence in their country.