This story is going all over the place at this moment.
Sadr drops all conditions in talks with US-led coalition
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Shiite Muslim radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr has agreed to drop all his conditions in negotiations with the US-led coalition and to follow the guidance of the highest Shiite religious authority, a close aide said.
"Moqtada Sadr is ready to accept what the Marjaiya (the top Shiite spiritual leaders) ask for and to drop the conditions he had set for a mediation," Qais al-Khazaali told a press conference in Najaf.
He said the Marjaiya had chosen a delegation to negotiate with the US side a settlement of the crisis.
The delegation is led by Abdel Karim al-Aanazi, who heads the breakaway faction of the Daawa party led by Ibrahim Jaafari.
US forces were Wednesday poised to capture or kill Sadr, who is holed up in Najaf and wanted for the alleged murder of a rival cleric last year.
Sadr has told journalists he is ready for outside mediation to end the standoff peacefully.
A Sadr spokesman however said Wednesday that Sadr loyalists were prepared to resist "political pressure as well as a (military) confrontation."
"The reinforcements which the US military talks about are aimed at either putting pressure to secure political concessions or at invading Najaf," said Sheikh Kais Khazaali.
"We are ready to face both scenarios."
US commanders said they were massing troops around Najaf a day after US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) warned in a Washington press conference that Sadr must answer murder charges against him and disband his banned Mehdi Army.
Meanwhile an official Iranian delegation arrived from Tehran to try to avert violence and was expected to meet Sadr, according to an aide to the firebrand cleric.
"The Iranian foreign ministry delegation has arrived but we still do not know the identities of the members of this delegation," said Haidar Aziz, who presents himself as a close aide and personal interpreter for Sadr.
"We are going to meet with them, and they may meet with Sayyed Sadr."
Tehran earlier said it had received a US request for assistance to mediate in the conflict. Other mediation efforts have been led by Iraqi religious leaders under the sponsorship of the Marjaiya, the highest Shiite authority.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040414/wl_afp/iraq_us_sadr_conditions&cid=1512&ncid=1473