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Article: Iraq Tells U.S. to Quit Checkpoints; Sadr City Celebrates Lifting of Blockade as Premier Asserts Authority
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- November 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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American soldiers rolled up their barbed-wire barricades and
lifted a near siege of the largest Shiite Muslim enclave in Baghdad
on Tuesday, heeding the orders of a Shiite-led Iraqi government
whose assertion of sovereignty had Shiites celebrating in the
streets.
The order by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to lift the week-old
blockade of Sadr City was one of the most overt expressions of self-
determination by Iraqi leaders in the 31/2-year-old U.S. occupation.
It followed two weeks of increasingly pointed exchanges between
Iraqi and U.S. officials, as well as a video conference between
Maliki and President Bush on Saturday.
Maliki's decision exposed the growing divergence between the U.S. ...