[cdrw]

yup - Iran's hand has been in this since the beginning. They want one of two things to happen IMHO. Either their stooge al-Sadr is allowed to form the seeds of an Islamic theocracy in Najaf (note Sadr's demands that Najaf be left ruled by he and his kind) or, even better for the Iranian mullah's, they totally demolish the shrine and transfer the epicenter of Shia Islam from Najaf to Iran (Qom I think is their Islamic center).

We tend to think of things in terms we understand so the media tends to interpret Iranian actions as fear of or preparation for a butt kicking by the US. But all along with the infiltration of their agents, the simultaneous uprisings in Najaf and Falluja, and now al-Sadr's pre-election intifada II, they have been making a major power play for Iraq in an effort to extend their "Caliphate". It has very little to do with us - we just happen to be the ones who put Iraq into play.

Allawi and the rest of the Iraqi people are waking up to Iran's strategy now that we've handed authority over to them and the killings haven't stopped. I don't think they'll put up with the "foreigners" and their agent al-Sard for much longer.