After upset Iraqi vote, US prepares to embrace a former foe

[TomSea]

After upset Iraqi vote, US prepares to embrace a former foe
By JOSH LEDERMAN |

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fourteen years after Muqtada al-Sadr's militias fought American troops, the United States is preparing to work hand in hand with the charismatic Shiite cleric and his movement, hoping to find common cause in curtailing Iran's influence in the wake of an upset Iraqi election.

Like many Iraqis, Washington was caught off guard by the election, in which a coalition organized by al-Sadr took the largest share of the parliamentary vote. Although al-Sadr, who didn't run himself, won't become prime minister, his movement will have an outsize role in building the next government and determining the course of Iraq's future.

Can the U.S. really set aside the past and embrace a cleric whose Mahdi Army killed U.S. and Iraqi troops and was accused of kidnapping, torturing and killing Sunni Iraqis? The tentative answer is yes.

Read more at: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iraqs-al-sadr-government-inclusive-55305272

Will we keep troops there?