Mail Call: The Decider in Iraq?(Letter to the editor)

Readers of our cover story "The Most Dangerous Man in Iraq" offered a more diplomatic view of Moqtada al-Sadr. "All the main Iraqi parties have their own militias, which are all as brutal as those of Sadr," one noted. Another agreed: "Sadr is the price Americans must pay for going to Iraq."

Iraq's Powerful Shiite Cleric

Moqtada Al-Sadr, enemy of the late Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, is the popular Iraqi nationalist trying to bring Shia and Sunni together ("Sword of the Shia," Dec. 4). He's a kingmaker who keeps Iran at a distance and wants a timetable for American withdrawal. The United States should follow the lead of America's Gen. James Conway, who set up the Fallujah Brigade. Hold your nose, swallow your ego and support the militia leader who best represents common interests. Sadr is the price Americans have to pay for going to Iraq.

Jack O'Rourke

Narragansett, Rhode Island

As a subscriber I expect NEWSWEEK to be a dignified magazine, full of information and stories with analyses to illuminate the facts. The sensational headline THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN IRAQ, above a certain cleric's picture on NEWSWEEK's cover, is reminiscent of a pulp novel and lets me down. It also misrepresents the facts. George W. Bush is the most dangerous man. He is responsible for all the suffering, death and destruction in Iraq. He has made the situation so dangerous in that country that no one is safe there now. Bush is to blame because he initiated the vicious chain reaction in Iraq with a big bang. As a consequence, galaxies, stars, planets, asteroids and meteorites have formed out of poisonous gas and dust. Some of them fall; others die, leaving behind dangerous black holes from which nothing, not even light, can escape. This cleric-star (Sadr) is no exception.

G. Sarwar