Word: najaf
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...occupation authority has to find an Iraqi government; determine where its own authority will end and the Iraqis' will begin; win international backing for the new arrangement and placate those in Washington and Baghdad disappointed by the outcome. Oh, and also, prevail militarily against insurgent challengers at Fallujah, Najaf and elsewhere...
...Najaf: Will Moqtada Take the Initiative...
...Shiite clerical establishment at Najaf would like nothing more than to see the radical firebrand Moqtada Sadr take his militia and his confrontation with the Americans out of town. But as much as they loathe Moqtada as an upstart troublemaker, even the most moderate among them are fiercely opposed to any U.S. military operation against him in the Shiite holy city. Everyone from Grand Ayatollah Sistani, the moderate elder of the Iraqi clerics on whose consent the entire transition process rests, to Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN diplomat to whom the Bush administration is looking to devise a political formula that...
...prompt the U.S. to extend the siege, but if Sadr believes that the end result will be his arrest by Coalition forces, he may choose once more to initiate a battle, as he did when he launched his uprising in response to a warrant for his arrest. Confrontation at Najaf carries the risk of a wider Shiite uprising against the U.S. forces. Although Moqtada Sadr does not represent a majority of Shiites and is loathed by the clerical establishment, his path of confrontation has struck a chord among significant sections of the Shiite urban poor. Even among his detractors...
...depending on the efforts of the Algerian diplomat who reported back to the UN Security Council Tuesday, Brahimi is in no sense a servant of the U.S. His views on the situation in Iraq are at odds with the U.S. on the question of using force at Fallujah and Najaf, and he angered Israel and its supporters this week by describing Israeli policies and their support by the U.S. as "the great poison in the region" that complicates his work. Brahimi has also been attacked by former Pentagon favorite Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi Governing Council - the IGC figure least...