Aide to radical Iraq cleric, leaders agree on possible solution to standoff

The offer hinges on U-S forces pulling out of Najaf and nearby Kufa, and also requires that al-Sadr's militia lay down its arms.

About 40 political and tribal leaders say coalition forces will have to set up an Iraqi force to patrol Najaf and postpone murder charges against al-Sadr until a permanent constitution is adopted next year.

There's been no response from the coalition, but the new governor of the city offered earlier in the day to defer murder charges against al-Sadr if he disbands his militia.

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=1859806

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. Army general battling rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Tuesday he would consider accepting al-Sadr's top militia deputies and other fighters in a new security force he is forming to patrol the holy Shiite city of Najaf.

Maj. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey - whose 1st Armored Division has clashed with al-Sadr's so-called Mahdi Army near the cities of Najaf, Kufa and Karbala - did not present his provocative idea as an immediate solution to the ongoing conflict.

But his idea would be a conciliatory gesture to the black-clad militiamen, dozens of whom have been killed in recent days by U.S.-led forces. Thirteen more were killed in overnight fighting near Najaf.

Al-Sadr, who has been indicted for the murder of a rival cleric last year, thanked his militiamen on Tuesday for "defending the holy cities," and said he hopes to be "martyred for the cause of Iraq," according to a statement issued from his office in Najaf.

Al-Sadr faces increased pressure not only from American forces, but also from rival Shiite groups planning a demonstration in Najaf after Friday prayers to demand his withdrawal from the city, which houses an important Shiite shrine. On Tuesday, a small group of demonstrators protested al-Sadr's control of areas near the Imam Ali shrine, but quickly dispersed when militiamen fired into the air.

Speaking to reporters in Baghdad, Dempsey said he is working to develop an Iraqi security force that would operate in Najaf, and he said he is not against including former Mahdi Army fighters and some of their leaders. He said his forces are tracking four al-Sadr deputies in Najaf and others around the country.

"If at some point they came forward with some idea about how to lay down their arms and be integrated into the group that cares about the future in a positive way, we could probably work something out," Dempsey said.

"If the militia dissolves tomorrow, what I've got is 600 unemployed young men on my hands," he said. "Some of them are probably decent young men who have been badly led astray."

Dempsey also acknowledged that coalition forces were slow to act against al-Sadr, allowing the cleric to prepare for the wave of attacks that he launched in April.

U.S. officials had announced last fall that an arrest warrant had been issued for al-Sadr, but coalition forces, worried about inflaming the country's Shiite majority, allowed the cleric to remain free.

"I guess in retrospect, perhaps back in October or November we probably missed an opportunity," Dempsey said. "Clearly in the six months between October and April, when he instigated this nationwide attack, he was training troops, gaining resources, stockpiling ammunition."

What remains unclear is whether involving al-Sadr's loyalists in security details will accomplish the United States' two basic goals: the arrest of the indicted cleric and the disarming of the rebel militia.

In other developments:

-A Russian contractor was killed and two others kidnapped about 19 miles south of Baghdad, officials said Tuesday. The ambush occurred Monday morning.

-A car bomb exploded in a busy marketplace in the northern city of Kirkuk Tuesday morning, killing three Iraqis, officials said. On Monday, two foreign contractors and their Iraqi driver were shot dead in Kirkuk, which is 150 miles north of Baghdad.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/world/8642044.htm