In blow to Iraqi PM, followers of radical cleric quit cabinet

BAGHDAD – Cabinet ministers loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned on Monday to protest the prime minister’s refusal to set a timetable for an American withdrawal, raising the prospect that the Mahdi Army militia could return to the streets of Baghdad.\nThe number of bodies found dumped in Baghdad increased sharply on Sunday to 30 – from as low as five in recent days – in a possible sign of the militia’s resurgence, even ahead of the six resignations.\nThe bodies, most of them tortured before they were shot execution-style, are widely believed to be the victims of Shiite death squads associated with the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr had ordered his fighters hide their weapons and stay off the streets shortly before the U.S. troop surge and security crackdown began on Feb. 14.\nThe departure of the six ministers, while unlikely to topple Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, deals a significant blow to the U.S.-backed leader, who relied on support from the Sadrists to gain office.\nEarlier in the day, Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the Sadrist bloc, declared that the ministers would “give the six Cabinet seats to the government, with the hope that they will be given to independents who represent the will of the people.”\nThe White House said al-Sadr’s decision to pull out his ministers does not mean that al-Maliki loses his majority.\n“I’d remind you that Iraq’s system of government is a parliamentary democracy and it’s different from our system,” said spokeswoman Dana Perino. “So coalitions and those types of parliamentary democracies can come and go.”