A radical Shiite cleric agreed to withdraw his militia from Najaf, raising hopes for an end to weeks of fighting in the holy city, but also demanded coalition forces pull back and a murder case against him be postponed. There was no immediate response from the coalition to the Wednesday agreement, which was conveyed in an announcement by National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie. Al-Sadr also could not be reached to confirm it directly.
| Hard to interview a fleeing man. |
An agreement to abandon Najaf would be a major step toward ending an uprising al-Sadr's militia has waged in the south only weeks before a new Iraqi government takes power June 30, formally ending the U.S.-led occupation. The weeks of fighting - which had threatened some of Shia Islam's holiest sites - had posed a major challenge to the jihadis, Fedayeen and theo-nuts U.S. occupation. It wasn't known but one could guess how much al-Sadr was swayed by the pre-dawn raid in which U.S. troops arrested al-Sadr's key lieutenant. Al-Sadr said he was making the offer because he's had his ass handed to him by the Marines of "the tragic condition" in Najaf after weeks of fighting between his militiamen and the Americans and the slight damage suffered by the city's holiest shrine, the Imam Ali mosque. U.S. officials have expressed their desire for a peaceful settlement to the standoff but have insisted that al-Sadr disband his "illegal militia" and submit to "justice before an Iraqi court."
| Don't even back down. Not one inch... |
"We still are committed to finding a peaceful resolution to this problem," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy chief of operations, told reporters in Baghdad before word of al-Sadr's offer. "But until that peaceful resolution comes forward ... we will continue to conduct military operations directed against his forces."
----Update----
The U.S.-led coalition agreed Thursday to suspend offensive operations in Najaf after local leaders struck a deal with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to end a bloody standoff threatening some of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines. Coalition forces would remain in Najaf until Iraqi security forces can reenter the city and assume control of strategic buildings from al-Sadr's militia, coalition spokesman Dan Senor told reporters in Baghdad.
| Sounds good, we hold in place, let Iraqi forces clean out the holy places. |
"Until that time, coalition forces will suspend offensive operations but will continue to provide security by carrying out presence patrols," Senor said. Iraqi leaders had urged the Americans to accept the agreement, although it does not require al-Sadr immediately to disband his militia and surrender to authorities to face charges in the April 2003 assassination of a moderate cleric.
| In that case we backed down an inch or more. We're either going to have to do the same thing again in a couple months, or we lose entirely. Stupid move. Gosh, I wish Vespasian and Titus were still around... |
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