WASHINGTON, June 15: US President George Bush, who branded Moqtada Sadr a thug just over a month ago, said on Tuesday that the United States would not deny the firebrand a role in Iraqi politics.

During a joint appearance with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Mr Bush left it to the interim Iraqi government due to take power on June 30 to deal with Moqtada Sadr. "The interim Iraqi government will deal with Al Sadr in the way they see fit. They're sovereign.

When we say we transfer full sovereignty, we mean we transfer full sovereignty. And they will deal with him appropriately," he said. Earlier, interim Iraqi president Sheikh Ghazi al Yawar told reporters that Moqtada Sadr could join national politics if he were found innocent of murder charges and agrees to disband his militia.

Sadr has indicated in recent days he was mulling a deal with the new interim government to drop his resistance to the emerging political order. Yawar praised the apparent thaw in Sadr's rhetoric.

"I kept on saying consistently that if I were in his shoes I would try to go to the political arena instead of raising arms. He has supporters, he has constituents, he should go through the political process and I commend this smart move on his side," Mr Yawar said.

A deputy for Sadr said at Friday prayers last week, the preacher was willing to accept the caretaker government if it called for an end to the occupation and gave a departure date for foreign troops. And on Sunday, another Sadr lieutenant said the radical leader was considering the founding of a political party, although Sadr himself has said he has no intention of standing for office.

But Mr Yawar warned that Sadr still needs to be cleared of abetting last year's murder of a moderate pro-US leader, Abdul Majid al Khoie, before he tests the political waters.

If Moqtada Sadr is cleared in the murder case, he would still have to disband his militia under a government plan to dismantle private armies announced last week that has already had nine groups sign on. -AFP