Muqtada Sadr, the Shia cleric whom the US army is trying to arrest, warned yesterday that negotiations to end the stand-off in Najaf were near collapse.
Sadr, wearing a white shroud to show he is willing to face death, appeared in the mosque of the nearby town of Kufa showing that the US encirclement of Najaf is less than complete. He said: "I am ready to face martyrdom."
His spokesman, Sheikh Fuad al-Tarafi, said: "I believe that the mediation will not continue for long. There are no results from these negotiations and
could collapse." The US has been demanding that Sadr be arrested and his Army of the Mehdi disbanded, something he says he will not do.
At the same time Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential Shia cleric, warned in a sermon yesterday that he regards US troops entering the holy cities of Najaf or Kerbala as a "red line" which must not be crossed. Quite what Ayatollah Sistani would do if the 2,500 US troops outside Najaf launched an attack is not clear but there is no doubt that Iraq's Shia would resist if asked.
~snip~http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=512243
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