Al-Sistani takes over control of Najaf's Imam Ali mosque

By Los Angeles Times

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NAJAF, Iraq — Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani resumed control over the Imam Ali shrine yesterday while a final handful of militiamen loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr left the compound after a deadly three-week standoff with U.S.-led forces.

A group of clerics representing al-Sistani, the top Shiite religious authority in Iraq, reclaimed the keys to the shrine from the forces of al-Sadr.

Meanwhile, Iraqi police and soldiers took up positions around the complex, as U.S. troops that had been as close as 50 yards away pulled back yesterday afternoon.

Al-Sadr agreed early yesterday to order his armed followers to leave the mosque and put down their weapons as part of an agreement brokered by al-Sistani to end weeks of combat in Najaf's normally tranquil "old city" district. Tens of thousands of worshipers poured through the mosque complex for prayers yesterday morning as the sudden deal came together. Al-Sistani had summoned the faithful from around Iraq to come to Najaf to march in support of peace.

At the same time, Pentagon officials acknowledged that with al-Sadr's militia remaining at least partly armed and intact, the outcome was far from ideal from a U.S. standpoint. Throughout the standoff, U.S. military officers in Iraq had said the only acceptable outcome was a full defeat of al-Sadr's forces and the discrediting of the cleric himself.

In a document released by al-Sistani's office detailing the terms, the elder cleric, who returned to Najaf on Thursday after three weeks of medical treatment in Britain for a heart condition, demanded the departure of al-Sadr's fighters and "foreign forces" from Najaf and neighboring Kufa, an al-Sadr stronghold.

Al-Sistani said Iraqi police should be solely in charge of security in the two cities and he urged the Iraqi government to compensate residents whose properties were damaged during the fighting, which included mortar strikes by al-Sadr's men and aerial bombing and tank fire by U.S. forces.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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