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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/radical-cleric-urges-us-resistance.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr speaks during his first public appearance since returning from nearly four years of self-imposed exile (AP)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/min-radical-cleric-urges-us-resistance.jpg" alt="Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr speaks during his first public appearance since returning from nearly four years of self-imposed exile (AP)"/></a></p>
<p>An anti-American cleric whose militia was once the nemesis of US troops in Iraq says that his followers are still resisting the US enemy with all means.</p>
<p>But Muqtada al-Sadr, now a formidable force in Iraqi politics and not just a militia leader, tempered his fiery words by saying the new Iraqi government should be given a chance to get American forces out of the country in a &#8220;suitable&#8221; way.</p>
<p>In his first speech since returning from almost four years of self-imposed exile in Iran, the 37-year-old cleric, whose Shiite militias once battled US troops and terrorised Iraqi Sunnis, stopped short of explicitly urging violence against Americans.</p>
<p>However, he left open the possibility that some 50,000 US troops in Iraq could be targeted before they are set to leave at the end of this year.</p>
<p>&#8220;Let the whole world hear that we reject America. No, no to the occupier,&#8221; al-Sadr said during a 35-minute speech in Najaf, a holy Shiite city about 100 miles (160km) south of Baghdad.</p>
<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t kill Iraqis &#8211; our hands do not kill Iraqis. But we target only the occupier with all the means of resistance,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are still resisters and we are still resisting the occupier militarily and culturally and by all the means of resistance.&#8221;</p>
<p>Al-Sadr has long branded the US military as occupiers in Iraq, and Washington considers him a security threat. Yet, after winning 40 seats in March parliamentary elections &#8211; and taking eight top leadership posts in the new government &#8211; al-Sadr&#8217;s political muscle makes him a force that cannot be ignored.</p>
<p>Addressing an adoring and frenzied crowd of thousands, al-Sadr called the US, Israel and Britain &#8220;our common enemies&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;Maybe during the past few days and months, we forgot the resistance and the expel of the occupier as we were busy with politics,&#8221; al-Sadr said.</p>
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