Shiite voices support for regional control in Iraq

Open to U.S. dialogue
The sermon by the younger al-Hakim, who like his father wears clerical robes and a black turban, was part of prayers marking the start of Eid al-Fitr. The ailing al-Hakim, who sat in on the ceremony, greeted well-wishers but did not address the crowd.

In his sermon, the younger al-Hakim also called for more dialogue between the United States and Iran and appealed for unity among Iraqis and a faster build up of national security forces to take over responsibility for security from U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.

Al-Hakim's comments came a day after a former chief of U.S.-led forces in Iraq, 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.

Al-Hakim declared his opposition to the establishment of permanent foreign military bases in Iraq. "We are still on the march to achieve complete sovereignty of Iraq and this will be accomplished," he said.

Al-Maliki's Shiite-led government 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," said al-Hakim, whose party maintains close ties to Iran, where it was created in 1982.

U.S. and Iranian officials have held two rounds of formal talks this year over Iraq. The talks have been inconclusive and there has been no agreement to date on a third round.

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.

Separately, the U.S. military confirmed that two American soldiers were killed Wednesday in a rocket attack earlier this week against Camp Victory, the sprawling headquarters for American forces in Iraq on Baghdad's western outskirts.

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