Iraqi Shiites rally after troops leave
The US completed its military withdrawal from Iraq in December 2011, but Sadrist MP Jawad al-Shuhaili said the movement postponed celebrating the event until the end of the Arbaeen, a 40-day period of mourning following the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a revered Shia figure.
At the rally, attended by tens of thousands, Mr Sadr presented himself as a statesman who can unite a fractured Iraq.
“If the last stage was of military and political resistance, the next stage will be that of construction and peace,” Mr Sadr said in a recorded speech from Iran, broadcast to his massed supporters.