Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, waves to supporters during an Eid al-Fitr prayer service to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan outside the al-Hakim party headquarters, Jadiriyah, central Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007. Ammar al-Hakim, the son of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, appealed for unity among all Iraqis and a faster build up of the national security forces that could assume full responsibility from U.S. troops in the country. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) by KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press - Oct 13, 2007
The son of one Iraq's most senior statesmen on Saturday called for more dialogue between the United States and Iran as Shiites took their turn celebrating the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Ammar al-Hakim made his appeal during a sermon he delivered in place of his ailing father, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of Iraq's largest Shiite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraq Council.
Iraq's Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has long played a delicate balancing act in the bitter rivalry between Washington and Tehran, putting off Iranian calls for a U.S. troop pullout while balking at U.S. pressure to take a tougher line against Tehran.
"We call for positive dialogue between America and Iran," al-Hakim said.
The senior al-Hakim attended the prayer service in southeastern Baghdad and was greeted by well-wishers afterward, three days after returning home from his last round of chemotherapy in Iran. He was diagnosed last May with lung cancer following tests in a Texas hospital, but chose to be treated in Iran to be near his family.
Ammar al-Hakim appealed for unity among all Iraqis and a faster build up of the national security forces that could assume full responsibility from U.S. troops in the country.
"We will do our best not to allow a permanent (foreign) military base on our land," al-Hakim told hundreds of supporters gathered outside the party's headquarters in Baghdad's Jadriyah district.
On Friday, a former chief of U.S.-led forces, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said the American mission in Iraq was a "nightmare with no end in sight" because of political and military misjudgments after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Sanchez commanded coalition troops for a year beginning June 2003. Speaking in Arlington, Va., he criticized current U.S. military strategies — including the deployment of 30,000 additional forces earlier this year — as a "desperate attempt" to make up for years of misguided policies.
The military on Saturday reported the deaths of two Americans soldiers killed in a mortar attack Wednesday near the Iraqi capital.
Al-Hakim insisted Iraqis will prevail.
"We are still on the march to achieve complete sovereignty of Iraq and this will be accomplished," he said.
In the sermon, al-Hakim also urged the region's Arab countries to support the political process in Iraq by opening diplomatic missions here and he appealed on "other nearby Islamic countries" — a reference to Iran — to support Iraq and its people.
The United States accuses Iran of arming Shiite militias and supplying them with sophisticated explosive devices used to attack U.S. troops in Iraq. Iran denies the charges.
In violence Saturday, the police commander in the northern city of Kirkuk escaped an assassination attempt, although the roadside bomb targeting his convoy killed one of his guards and wounded three others, along with one bystander, police Col. Burhan Tayeb said.
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