Word: moqtada
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Last week reporter Phillip Robertson was one of the first Western journalists to make it into Najaf during heavy fighting between the insurgent forces of Moqtada Sadr and the U.S. Here is the account of his trip...
...piece of concrete. The bullets made cracking sounds when they hit the wall. After a pause in the firing a group of Mahdi fighters in a nearby alley told us to come closer and take cover with them. From that street corner, it was a five minute walk to Moqtada Sadr's office and the center of Najaf. Half a dozen Mahdi Army fighters walked with us. Long rows of armed young men we passed held their weapons in the air and sang victory songs. They stayed out of the street to avoid U.S. snipers, but they were relaxed...
MIDDLE EAST IRAQ: The government, the U.S. and Moqtada al-Sadr have much at stake in the battle for Najaf...
...Moqtada Sadr's political ambitions give him an incentive to peacefully end the standoff at Najaf - although he?s unlikely to do it in a way that loses face. If he emerges triumphant from yet another showdown with the Americans bringing an end to a stalemate that had improbably become a national crisis (even if it was largely of his own making), Sadr could conceivably even expand his following. To achieve that he'll have to be able to demonstrate whatever deal was struck to pull his own men out of the holy sites also resulted in a withdrawal...
...high stakes game continues. While prospects for a peaceful outcome at Najaf persist, its attainment will depend in large part on Moqtada Sadr's sense of timing - and his, and Allawi's, grasp of the maxim that "politics is the art of the possible...