Iraq’s Maverick Cleric Hits the Books
December 14, 2007 8:20 am Mahdi Army 
The radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ,gestures while delivering Friday sermon, in a Mosque, in Kufa, 160 kilometers, (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday Sept. 22, 2006. Firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has quietly resumed seminary studies to attain the coveted title of a Shiite Ayatollah–a goal that could make him and his Mahdi Army an even more formidable power broker in Iraq. (AP Photo/Alaa Al-Marjani)
Iraq’s Maverick Cleric Hits the Books, AP, December 14, 2007
BAGHDAD (AP) — The leader of Iraq’s biggest Shiite militia movement has quietly resumed seminary studies toward attaining the title of ayatollah — a goal that could make firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army an even more formidable power broker in Iraq.
Al-Sadr’s objectives — described to The Associated Press by close aides — are part of increasingly bitter Shiite-on-Shiite battles for control of Iraq’s southern oil fields, the lucrative pilgrim trade to Shiite holy cities and the nation’s strategic Persian Gulf outlet.
The endgame among Iraq’s majority Shiites also means long-term influence over Iraqi political and financial affairs as the Pentagon and its allies look to scale down their military presence in the coming year.
Al-Sadr’s backers remain main players in the showdowns across the region, where fears of even more bloodshed are rising following Wednesday’s triple car bombing in one of the area’s main urban hubs. At least 25 people were killed and scores wounded.