Free Republic

Bear with me, today will be light. I’m fine, and back from the Shrine for a third time in three days and I’m just too tired to write too much right now. My apologies. But at least I was in the Shrine when the pilgrims made it in. Hundreds, thousands of them flooded the war zone and turned what was a burned out neighborhood into something almost festive’ assuming you find RPGs cool (like I do.) Anyway, I think this cease-fire is actually working. It’s giving the Mahdi militiamen time to leave the area and vacate the Shrine. We’ll see,...

NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces battled militants Tuesday in Najaf, sending plumes of black smoke over the holy city, as Iraq's government warned fighters loyal to a radical cleric "they have hours to surrender" in their weekslong standoff inside the Imam Ali Shrine or face attack. "The decisive hours are near," said Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, assassins bombed the convoys of two Iraqi Cabinet ministers in separate attacks that killed five bodyguards but left the officials unharmed. The al-Qaida-linked militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite political leaders called on Moqtada al-Sadr to disarm on Tuesday and vowed to forge a domestic solution to the brewing crisis involving the anti-U.S. cleric and the country's holiest cities. The move is the first collective effort by Sadr's political rivals to try to avoid further violence in Najaf and Kerbala, and regain political ground lost to the firebrand cleric, whose nationalist brand of Islam has gained him support. "It is a shame to ask the occupation forces to solve this problem," Shi'ite leader Mohammad Bahr al-Uloum told a meeting of Shi'ite parties, including those...

Armed men continued to besiege the home of Shia spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani on Sunday giving him until Monday to leave the country or face attack, aides to the cleric claimed. The stand-off is a worrying sign of volatility and religious strife among Iraq’s majority community and raises concerns of national unity in post-war Iraq. Tensions are rising among Najaf's Shia community Kuwait-based Ayatollah Abul Qasim Dibaji accused Jimaat-E-Sadr-Thani, led by Moqdada Sadr, of trying to take control of the holy sites of Iraq. “Armed thugs and hooligans have had the house of Ayatollah Sistani under siege since...

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Senior Iraqi Shi'ite leaders said on Saturday that a radical Muslim group led by an ambitious young rival orchestrated the killing of cleric Abdul Majid al-Khoei in Najaf this week. Khoei was hacked to death by a mob at Imam Ali Shrine, the holiest Shi'ite site, days after he returned from exile in London to help Iraq make the transition to democracy. Iraqi Shi'ite leaders said Jimaat-e-Sadr-Thani, a splinter group led by Moqtada Sadr, the 22-year-old son of a late spiritual leader in Iraq, carried out Thursday's attack which left al-Khoei and another cleric dead. "The attackers...

Armed groups order Shi'ite leader to quit Iraq By Mehrdad Balali KUWAIT, April 13 (Reuters) - Armed radical groups have surrounded the house of Iraq's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric in the central city of Najaf, giving him 48 hours to leave the country, aides to the cleric said on Sunday. "Armed thugs and hooligans have had the house of (Grand) Ayatollah (Ali) Sistani under siege since yesterday. They have told him to either leave Iraq in 48 hours or they would attack," Kuwait-based Ayatollah Abulqasim Dibaji told Reuters. "Total terror reigns in Najaf. They have told other ayatollahs to leave...