Sadr's Men Hold Iraq Shrine in Defiance of Govt
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0821-02.htm
Iraq issues amnesty as US warns al-Sadr
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/08/1091903422134.html?from=storylhs
Ayatollah reaches peace deal with al-Sadr
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/26/iraq.main/index.html
Iraq ex-PM (Allawi) says survives assassination (by Sadr)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1533829/posts
The media never reported what happened during the August standoff. With Sistani out of the country and on his death bed Allawi saw it as his chance to bring Sadr up on the murder charges that were still against him for killing a cleric in 2003. Some forces got into a firefight near Sadr's compound. He then fled with his militia to Najaf hoping the fact he was in the most holy site of Shia Islam would give him leverage and keep US and Iraqi troops from attacking.
The State Dept. was unhappy with Allawi's actions in going after Sadr without their say so. So the State Dept. basically allowed Sistani to call the shots from his hospital bed in London. Sistani via the State Dept. was the one who let Sadr walk. The White House was mortally afraid of the whole thing at this time and Card and others just wanted the Sadr uprising so close to election time to just go away and in such a way that it didn't cause the Shia community to explode.