Sadr's influence wanes in Baghdad

Much of the giant square where followers of Moqtada al-Sadr gather in their thousands on Fridays to pray is now taken up by an Iraqi army base, surrounded by concrete blast walls and watchtowers.

For perhaps the first time since the fiery cleric burst onto the political scene by leading two uprisings against US forces in 2004, it is now possible to imagine a future for Iraq in which he plays only a limited political role.

On a weekday, the square in Baghdad's Sadr City slum is empty. An Iraqi soldier peers from a spot next to an armored vehicle, parked beneath the gun turrets of the new base, just opposite the headquarters of the young cleric's movement.