Tens of thousands of supporters of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have marched in Baghdad to denounce the US presence in Iraq and call for a speedy trial of Saddam Hussein on the second anniversary of his overthrow.

Friday 08 April (al Jazeera, Agence France-Press)

Iraqi leaders have called for a mass demonstration against the US-led troop presence on the second anniversary of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government.

An Old U.S. Foe Rises Again in Iraq
Shiite Mahdi Army Growing Bolder in South
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, April 8, 2005; Page A01

GHARAF, Iraq - Over the loudspeakers set up in this small town in a backwater of southern Iraq, the commands came in staccato bursts. "Forward!" a man clad in black shouted to the militiamen. "March!"

Sadr Group Signals Rejection Of Election
Shiite Cleric Eyes Role Outside System
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 24, 2005; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- Around the corner from a five-mile line stretching toward a gas station, past election posters calling voting a religious duty, hundreds of bleary-eyed protesters threw down what goes for prayer carpets among followers of the Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr. They put down black-checkered kaffiyehs, the sweaters they wore, sacks of flour distributed as government rations and, most commonly, scraps of cardboard.

By Michael Schwartz - http://www.atimes.com

Sadr City - the overcrowded, under-serviced 3 million-person Baghdad slum that has been the site of some of the fiercest fighting in Iraq - is the linchpin of the war.

It Takes a Following to Make an Ayatollah
By Juan Cole
Sunday, August 15, 2004; Page B04

The battle for Najaf has catapulted the names of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and lower-ranking cleric Moqtada Sadr onto the front pages of American newspapers once again.

This story from the Observer reports the events in Najaf over the last few days and mentions Sunni - Shia cooperation in the struggle.

'After three wars we have all had enough'

The uprising against US troops in Najaf is causing further divisions among many Iraqis, who are fed up with fighting, reports Rory McCarthy, who has been in the holy Shia city for the past week

from juancole.com " US Attack "Uncivilized": Jafari
Fresh Violence in Sadr City 15 US Soldiers Wounded, 3 Dead in recent Fighting".

Before I go over the details, here is my reading of what is going on in Najaf. The truce between the Mahdi Army and US/ Iraqi forces broke down because they had different ideas of what the truce entailed. US-appointed governor Adnan al-Zurufi had demanded that the Mahdi Army disarm and/or leave Najaf. Muqtada al-Sadr on the other hand interpreted the truce to entail limiting his militia's activities to certain areas of the city and to have them avoid clashes with police and US troops.

Shiite Struggle: City suffers as sect
fights for freedom. By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Los Angeles Times

NAJAF, Iraq - Since the fall of Saddam Hussein last year, worshipers from across the Muslim world have thronged to the Imam Ali shrine on Fridays to hear the sermon and celebrate the Shiite sect's newfound freedom.

July 17, 2004, by TOM LASSETER, Knight Ridder Tribune News

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - From directing traffic to organizing blood drives, the militia overseen by firebrand cleric Muqtada al Sadr is taking control of Baghdad's largest neighborhood even as Iraqi and U.S. officials demand that the group disband.

'This is the only fun the kids get - shooting at the US sitting ducks'

Who exactly are the Iraqi resistance?

In a remarkable essay, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad joins the front-line anti-American fighters in Kerbala, Falluja and Sadr City...

A critical perspective on Muqtada al-Sadr.
***

Moqtada al-Sadr’s group, Iran’s betting hoarse

from wpiraq.org

By Fahad Nasir

The bloody developments and continuous war in Iraq between the occupation forces and gangs of al-Sadr have clarified among other facts, the role the Islamic regime in Iran and how it stands behind many horrifying crimes and events whether through the Iranian intelligence (Itlaat) or through various political Islamic movements. This reactionary and terrorist regime, its intelligence agency and bloody “revolutionary guards” stand behind many explosions, armed operations and increasing confrontation with the occupation forces, including current street to street fighting and killing innocent civilians and destroying their houses by haphazard shooting and bombardment by both parties of this war. It also stands behind all manifestations of reaction and brutality which prevail in the south of Iraq. These parts of Iraq are now, in a way, under the rule of the Islamic Republic regime through the Shiite Islamic movements. These reactionary movements impose on people all manifestation of reaction, backwardness, climate of terrorism, killings, sectarian frictions, oppression against women, and rightlessness.

The “Iraqi Resistance” and Worker-communists

from www.wpiraq.org

May 18,2004

“The situation in Nasiriyiah today May 18th is
relatively calm. The Mahdi Army fled the fight against

The latest from Juan Cole. juancole.com

Sistani Meets Muqtada; Ceasefire Taking Hold

Fighting continued Saturday in East Baghdad. A roadside bomb killed two US soldiers and wounded two others. Mahdi Army militiamen attacked a police station and the police were supported by US troops in returning fire. They killed at least one militiaman.

Two Killed in Attack on Convoy in Baghdad
Sunday May 30, 2004 7:01 PM
By MARIAM FAM
Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - U.S. soldiers clashed with Shiite gunmen in this holy city on Sunday, further eroding an agreement to end the bloody standoff with followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Gunmen, meanwhile, attacked a convoy of sport utility vehicles in Baghdad, killing at least two people, witnesses said.

Deadly clashes shatter Najaf truce
Al Jazeera
Friday 28 May 2004 8:25 AM GMT

Five Iraqis have been killed and 14 wounded in clashes between US troops and Shia militiamen in the holy city of Najaf and in nearby Kufa, hospital sources say.

US retreats after failing to capture militia chief
By Justin Huggler in Baghdad
28 May 2004 - The Independent

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.

Sadr standoff comes to an end
Iraqi negotiators struck a Fallujah-like deal in Najaf. But what happens to Sadr now?
By Orly Halpern | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD - A Shiite uprising which swept southern Iraq for the past seven weeks, and boosted rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's popularity nationwide, now appears over. Thursday a Fallujah-like deal was struck in the holy cities of Najaf and Kufa, where Mr. Sadr's militiamen had fought for days against US-led coalition forces.

Al-Sadr 'makes Najaf peace offer'
Thursday May 27, 2004
The Guardian

Members of Iraq's Governing Council today travelled to Najaf in an attempt to reach a peace agreement with the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Mehdi Army Grows
by Dahr Jamail; The NewStandard; May 26, 2004

Baghdad, May 25 -- While US troops continue to damage mosques in heavy fighting against resistance forces they say are holed up in holy sites of Kufa and Kerbala, men in the Sadr City area of Baghdad rushed yesterday to join the Mehdi Army, a militia force loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr.

Failing to Disband Militias, U.S. Moves to Accept Them
By DEXTER FILKINS
May 25, 2004 NYT

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 24 — With only weeks to go until an Iraqi government takes over, American officials have failed to disarm the tens of thousands of fighters in private militias deployed almost exclusively along ethnic and religious lines.

by Fisnik Abrashi, AP, Friday May 21, 2004

KARBALA, Iraq (AP) - American AC-130 gunships and tanks pounded militia positions early Friday near two shrines in the center of the holy city of Karbala, and the U.S. military said it killed 18 fighters loyal to a rebel cleric. Hospital officials said the dead included two Iranian pilgrims.

By Rami El-Amine
published in Left Turn
www.leftturn.org

"What is striking is how much has changed in a week - a week. No one can talk about the Sunni Triangle anymore. No one can seriously talk about Sunni-Shia fragmentation or civil war. The occupation cannot talk about small bands of resistance. Now it is a popular rebellion and it has spread." - Wamid Nadhmi, a political science professor at Baghdad University

Iraqi cleric offers to end standoff
Militia will leave holy city if U.S. force withdraws Shiite leader seeks postponement of case for murder

NAJAF, Iraq— Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has agreed to pull his Mahdi Army militia out of Najaf if the U.S.-led coalition postpones its legal case against him and withdraws to set up an Iraqi force to patrol the holy city, local leaders said yesterday.

Mahdi Army seizes US weapons - Al Jazeera

Tuesday 11 May 2004, 16:21 Makka Time, 13:21 GMT



Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr display their 'captured arms'

Cleric's forces gather for new offensive

Luke Harding in Abu Ghraib
Tuesday May 11, 2004
The Guardian

The radical Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, yesterday ordered his followers to launch a new offensive against American and British troops, in what appears to be a final and possibly decisive showdown with coalition forces across Iraq.

Shiite Cleric's Militia Seizes Control of Baghdad Slum

By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, May 10, 2004; Page A01

BAGHDAD, May 9 -- Gunmen and commanders loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr took over the giant Sadr City slum in Baghdad on Sunday, seizing control of police forces, municipal administration and schools and blocking freedom of movement in an area just five miles east of U.S. administration headquarters.

Shiite Gunmen Rampage Through Iraq Cities

Saturday May 8, 2004 1:16 PM

By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI

Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - Gunmen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rampaged through Basra and another southern Iraq city, attacking British patrols and government buildings a day after an al-Sadr aide offered worshippers money for capturing or killing coalition soldiers.

2 Articles:

1. Three U.S. Soldiers Die in Clash with Sadr Militia
Wed May 5, 2004 01:55 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers were killed in the Iraqi town of Diwaniya during clashes with the militia loyal to wanted Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the U.S. military said in a statement Wednesday.

May 5, 2004

U.S. Begins First Major Assault on Iraqi Militia Led by Cleric
By EDWARD WONG

ARBALA, Iraq, May 5 — The American military launched its first major assault against insurgents led by Moktada al-Sadr, a rebel Shiite cleric, striking early this morning at militia enclaves in this holy Shiite city and in another city in southern Iraq in an effort to retake control of those areas.