Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric returned to the country from Britain on Wednesday and his aides called for a nationwide march to Najaf to end nearly three weeks of fierce fighting between U.S. forces and Shiite militants in this holy city. The announcement came as heavy fighting persisted in Najaf's Old City. U.S. warplanes fired on the neighborhood, helicopters flew overhead and heavy gunfire was heard in the streets, witnesses said. Iraqi police sealed the area, preventing cars from entering, and Najaf's police chief, Maj. Gen. Ghalib al-Jazaari, said radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia was on its last legs. "The Mahdi Army is finished," he said. "Its hours are numbered."
| "Mo! It's gettin' dark, Mo!" |
Militants were still fighting in the streets of the Old City, witnesses said, though the relentless American attacks in Najaf appeared to be killing weakening them. Police on Wednesday arrested several al-Sadr aides with valuables in their possession from the sacred Imam Ali Shrine, which they control, al-Jazaari said. One of al-Sadr's top lieutenants, Sheik Ali Smeisim, was among those arrested, police officials said on condition of anonymity.
| Arrested looting the holy shrine. Tusk tusk. This will not look good in your resume, Ali! |
Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, 73, the nation's top Shiite cleric, crossed into southern Iraq from Kuwait about midday in a caravan of sport utility vehicles accompanied by Iraqi police and national guardsmen, according to an Associated Press reporter with the convoy. The convoy stopped for gas in the southern city of Basra. Al-Sistani would head to Najaf on Thursday "to stop the bloodshed," said Al-Sayyid Murtadha Al-Kashmiri, an al-Sistani representative in London. "Those believers who wish to join him, let them join."
| Good showmanship: Let the Merkins shoot all the Bad Guyz, and the Iraqops arrest the head cheeses, then show up and bestow blessings on all concerned... |
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