WASHINGTON - The United States said Monday that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki could keep his beleaguered coalition government together, after radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr withdrew his six ministers.
"Coalitions in those types of parliamentary democracies can come and go," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said as Sadr, a Shiite hardliner, pushed his demand for a rapid withdrawal of US troops.
"If the Sadrists were to leave the government -- obviously they've said they would before and I understand that they have done that this morning -- that does not mean that Maliki loses his majority. I think that's an important thing to remember," Perino told reporters.
Sadr -- who has not been seen in public since October -- was angered last week when street protests failed to persuade Maliki to set a timeline for American forces to go home.
Sadr's bloc is the largest single political group in Maliki's fragmenting coalition, but the prime minister will be able to cling to power if he keeps the support of smaller Shiite and Kurdish groups.
04/16/2007 13:32 GMT