A radical cleric who led uprisings in Iraq insists "resistance is legitimate" in a BBC interview to be screened tonight.
Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi army fought the United States in Najaf, urges Iraqis not to be provoked by the coalition "occupation".
But al-Sadr tells Newsnight: "Resistance is legitimate at all levels be it religious, intellectual and so on. . . The first person who would acknowledge this is the so-called American President Bush who said 'if my country is occupied, I will fight."
In his first interview with a western news organisation, al-Sadr says: "America does not want confrontation. So I call upon other parties like the Iraqi army and the Iraqi police to exercise self-restraint with Iraqi people and not be provoked into them or the occupying forces as this isn't in the interest of Iraq.
"I also call on the Iraqi people to exercise restraint and not get enmeshed in the plans of the West or plans of the occupation that wants to provoke them."
But Al-Sadr blames the coalition's presence for the problems faced by Iraqis.
"The occupation in itself is a problem. Iraq not being independent is the problem. And the other problems stem from that - from sectarianism to civil war. The entire American presence causes this."
The cleric says he will not play any part in the democratic process, which is supposed to see a new constitution unveiled on August Th, while the US-led troops remain. "I personally shall not interfere. I say that our constitution is the Koran and the Sunnah and I refuse any political role while the occupation is present."
However, he adds: "Whoever wants to take part, let him do so."
PA