Moqtada al-Sadr Not Conciliatory

At least one influential Iraqi figure is doing nothing to calm fears that Iraq will decend further into civil war.

The sectarian crisis further raised the political and military prominence of Moqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shiite cleric whose black-clad Mahdi Army militiamen rolled out after Wednesday's mosque bombing.

Sadr, who had been abroad meeting with Middle Eastern leaders, returned to Iraq Sunday and called on his followers to keep up the protests.

In stops in three cities, the black-turbaned cleric called for joint Shiite and Sunni demonstrations in Baghdad to demand the withdrawal of U.S. forces and to condemn attacks on mosques and all other "terrorist actions" in Iraq.

"No, no occupation," Sadr chanted before a crowd in Basra.

"You should unite and love each other," he said in remarks directed at Sunnis and Shiites, "so that Iraq will be safe away from the occupation."

In a case of life imitating art, there is the provocative question of whether Moqtada al-Sadr ("Mookie" in the lingo of U.S. ground forces) is "Doing The Right Thing" by inciting the Shiite masses against the occupation.