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So where is Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army now? After taking serious losses against American and Iraqi forces and cynically hiding behind Shiite Islam’s most holy shrine in Najaf, these cowards have melted back into Iraqi society. Or have they? There are many questions to be answered regarding al-Sadr’s future, as he most certainly will oppose the growth of democracy in Iraq. Will al-Sadr and his thugs be held accountable for the violent crimes they committed in Najaf? During their reign of terror, they apparently held a kangaroo court. After Iraq’s top Shiite, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, pressured al-Sadr to...

BREAKING NEWS: al-Sadr to Disband Militia, Leave Imam Ali Mosque By Andrew L. Jaffee, August 18, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Threatened with an imminent raid of the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf by Iraqi forces, radical Islamist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has agreed to disband his militia, vacate the mosque, and "enter into the mainstream political process." Pressure has been building against al-Sadr for quite some time now. The power-hungry cleric has been stirring up trouble in Najaf, Karbala, and Baghdad since early April. On May 21, over 2,000 Iraqis held a demonstration in the city of Karbala insisting that al-Sadr and...

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - U.S. tanks rolled into the Old City of Najaf toward a holy Shiite shrine where militants were hiding Monday as participants at a national conference voted to send a delegation here to try to negotiate an end to the fighting. The city, which had been quiet early Monday, was hit by series of explosions in the late morning that shook the vast cemetery, the scene of many battles between U.S. forces and militants. Witnesses also reported U.S. tanks had moved to within 500 yards of the revered Imam Ali Shrine. "We are proceeding with our operations....

American marines backed up by Iraqi troops seem to have launched a promised final assault on the Shia militiamen holed up in Najaf. The operation risks triggering an angry reaction across Iraq and beyond—but pulling back now might be just as risky THOUSANDS of American marines and Iraqi troops, backed by aircraft and tanks, launched an intense attack on Shia militiamen in the holy city of Najaf on Thursday August 12th—a day after the marines' commander in the city, Colonel Anthony Haslam, had said his men were going to “finish this fight that the Muqtada militia started”. Last week, the...

IRAQ THE MODEL Friday, August 13, 2004 It’s rather quite here in Baghdad this morning and reports from Najaf say that it’s similar there. Iraqi official said that tens of the militia men who were arrested in Najaf were not Iraqis and that some of them do not even speak Arabic. The Iraqi government seems determined to keep up the fight until the "Mahdi Army" surrender although some She’at parties are trying diplomatic ways. At the same time there are conflicting signals coming from Muqtada and his deputies. Iraqi Interior minister said that The "Mahdi Army" have fired 110 rockets...

NAJAF, Iraq - A radical cleric whose loyalists battled U.S. troops for the fifth straight day Monday vowed to continue fighting and said he would not to budge from the holy city of Najaf, despite government demands that he and his fighters lay down their weapons. The violence, which raged throughout Shiite areas for a fifth day Monday, forced oil officials to stop pumping from Iraq (news - web sites)'s key southern oil fields, which account for about 1.8 million barrels per day, or 90 percent of Iraq's exports, an official with the South Oil Company said on condition of...

NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. helicopter gunships and fighter jets pounded Shiite Muslim insurgents hiding in a sprawling cemetery yesterday in the most intense fighting in this holy city since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The U.S. military said 300 militants were killed in the past two days. The clashes between coalition forces and militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army flared in Shiite communities across the country, killing dozens of other Iraqis, according to Iraqi officials and the militants. The fighting, which began early Thursday, threatened to re-ignite the bloody, two-month Shiite insurrection that broke out in April - and...

Kerry's true "Band of Brothers" are not his fellow Vietnam veterans. They are the those who would weaken America... the internationalists... the terrorists who would blame us for 'intervening.' The true friends of Kerry are all of those who want us to feel guilty for the fact that America is an exceptional nation, filled with individuals whose freedoms enable us to rise constantly higher.

A series of truces agreed on last month, encompassing Mr Sadr's stronghold in al-Thoura, Baghdad's eastern slum, as well as the Shia holy cities and other towns further south, are still holding. His own home turf in the capital has been more peaceful than it has been for months. Former fighters are now being paid to collect rubbish, plant trees, direct traffic and help the Iraqi police. The new government has promised to pay for a new sewage system so that the slum detritus will no longer flow past Baghdad's grimmest tenements. Outside the city, the clergy behind Mr...

Healing Iraq Daily news and comments on the situation in post Saddam Iraq by an Iraqi dentist Wednesday, April 07, 2004 More on Sadr's insurgency Sadr's aide and head of his office in Najaf, Qays Al-Khaz'ali, has declared the latest looting and killing spree going on in several Iraqi southern cities as an Intifada against the occupation. Speaking on behalf of Muqtada, he stated that they will certainly not calm down any soon because the Quran orders them not to; "Fight those who fight against you". And he has also made it clear that they stand united with their 'Sunni...

KARBALA, Iraq, Oct. 14 -- Rival Shiite Muslim groups exchanged gunfire overnight in this Shiite holy city, the first serious armed clash between Shiite factions since the Iraq war, and the top U.S. commander in Iraq warned Tuesday that American forces may soon have to move against one of the factions. Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez said armed followers of Moqtada Sadr, a young Shiite cleric who has loudly opposed the presence of foreign troops in Iraq, have been regarded for months as an evolving threat to U.S.-led forces. Last week, in what American commanders described as an ambush, Sadr's...