- United States forces agreed yesterday to withdraw from
the Shia holy city of Najaf and end fighting with the militia of the radical
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. In a climbdown by the Americans, who had vowed
to kill or capture Sadr, it now appears he will be allowed to remain free.
His Army of Mehdi militia will also withdraw under the deal.
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- The Americans appeared to have given up their two main
demands to end the fighting in Najaf: that Sadr surrender to them and that
the Mehdi Army be disbanded immediately.
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- The American agreement to withdraw without capturing
Sadr will be seen in Iraq as a second embarrassing capitulation in as many
months, after US forces ended their April siege of the Sunni city of Fallujah
without capturing those responsible for killing and mutilating the bodies
of four American contractors - the original reason for the siege in which
hundreds of Iraqi civilians are believed to have died.
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- Civilians have died in Najaf too, though not as many
as in Fallujah. There has been widespread anger in the Shia world at the
fighting in the holy city, especially after Iraq's most sacred Shia shrine,
that of the Imam Ali, was damaged.
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- Members of the American-appointed Iraqi Governing Council
who negotiated the deal with Sadr said yesterday it included an agreement
to hold new talks over an arrest warrant under which he is wanted for the
murder of another cleric last year, and on the future of the Army of Medhi.
It remains to be seen whether the Americans, who have been demanding that
Sadr surrender and face trial, will accept that. But the immediate threat
to Sadr appears to have been lifted.
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- Dan Senor, the occupation authority's spokesman, said
US forces would suspend their offensive in Najaf immediately and withdraw
as soon as Iraqi security forces are able to take control of the city -
an arrangement similar to Fallujah.
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- Mohammed al-Musawi, a Shia leader who was involved in
extensive efforts to arrange a peaceful end to the fighting in Najaf, claimed
the deal included an agreement that Sadr will not face any prosecution
until after an elected Iraqi government takes office, which will not happen
until next year. He also said that under the deal the Mehdi Army would
become a political organisation.
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- Whether Sadr will get that much remains to be seen, but
at any rate he appeared to have got the most out of yesterday's deal. It
was a good result for him after scores of his militiamen were killed in
the past few days.
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- The Americans may have agreed to the deal partly because
of their need to calm the situation ahead of the planned handover of sovereignty
to a new appointed Iraqi government on 30 June.
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- Sadr also appeared to have outmanoeuvred the Americans.
Until yesterday, their answer to any criticism for fighting inside the
holy city was that Sadr's militia had forced them into it by taking up
positions there. But once Sadr had publicly offered to withdraw his militia
if US forces did the same, a refusal would have made them appear the ones
responsible for further violence inside Najaf.
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- Sadr launched his uprising in April after the US occupation
authorities closed a newspaper he ran. The arrest warrant against him was
only announced after his uprising began. The Americans appeared to be banking
on a lack of widespread Shia support for Sadr. But they got bogged down
in fighting with his militia, and every day it continued risked a more
general Shia backlash.
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- Gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying a member of the Iraqi
Governing Council, Salama al-Khafaji, as she was returning to Baghdad from
mediation efforts in Najaf yesterday, an aide said. She survived, but three
bodyguards were killed and her son was missing, according to a council
member.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=525673
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