Najaf: A Victory for Politics
4275
Friday&#39;s defusing of the three-week military standoff in Najaf has the disappointing result that Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his militia survive to fight another battle, threatening US military forces and the fledgling Iraqi government.
690670
All sides can claim partial victory in the Najaf crisis' resolution. Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has proven his power by securing a peace deal, and renegade Muqtada al-Sadr has escaped with his militia movement intact.
131541
NAJAF, Iraq  - A team of Iraqi ministers visited  battle-scarred Najaf Saturday and discussed plans for  rebuilding the holy city after three weeks of fighting that  killed hundreds and drove oil prices to record highs.
68890
NAJAF, Iraq - Hoping to end weeks of fighting in Najaf, Iraq's top Shiite cleric unexpectedly returned home from Britain on Wednesday armed with a new peace initiative and a call for Iraqis across the country to march on the holy city to demand an end to the fighting.    Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani, who wields enormous influence among Shiite Iraqis, had previously declined to get involved in resolving the violent conflicts roiling the nation, and it was unclear why he suddenly changed his mind...
641279
NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraqi police took control of the  Imam Ali Mosque in the holy city of Najaf on Friday after  entering the shrine and arrested some hundreds of militiamen,  Interior Ministry and an Iraqi government source said.
53132
A Shi'ite Islamist bloc won Iraq's  first election since Saddam Hussein's overthrow, sealing the  political resurgence of the long-oppressed majority but leaving  the restive Sunni Arab minority in the cold.
87653
BAGHDAD, Iraq - When US forces pushed through southern Iraq in the war last year, Najaf was just another spot on the map to Baghdad. But during the past two weeks of fighting in Najaf, the dusty city proved to be a glaring example of the ...
240358
NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq&#39;s interim government said it had defused a Shi&#39;ite rebellion in Najaf on Friday without a shot being fired, but rebel militiamen denied police had seized the city&#39;s sacred Imam Ali Mosque from their control.
702577
NAJAF, Iraq -- In a shabby but spotless living room in the holy city of Najaf, a top deputy of Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada al-Sadr quietly sketched out his vision of the Iraq to come, after the Americans withdraw.
74197
One Najaf family's shifting view of the fierce fighting that surrounds them.
693505
BAGHDAD, July 17 -- The political bloc of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ended its month-long boycott of the Iraqi parliament, a spokesman for the group said Tuesday, a political advance amid sectarian violence that included the slaying of 29 Shiites overnight by men dressed in military uniforms.
140785
NAJAF, Iraq - Militants filed out of the Imam Ali Shrine, closed the doors behind them and turned over the keys to Iraq's top Shiite cleric Friday, symbolizing their acceptance of a peace deal to end three weeks of devastating fighting in this holy city.    By Friday afternoon, dozens of Iraqi police and national guardsmen surrounded the shrine compound - many kissing its doors and weeping - as the government began to re-establish control over the Old City of Najaf...
253534
The crash of explosions and crackle of gunfire that have torn through Najaf for weeks gave way Saturday to the clangs of shovels clearing the destruction and the wail of police sirens announcing the return of government control to the devastated holy city.
86636
Fighting in Najaf, a holy city for Shi&#39;ite Muslims in Iraq, is at crisis point. Militiamen led by anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are holed up in the golden-domed Imam Ali mosque in a standoff against Iraq&#39;s interim government and American troops.
267759
NAJAF: Fighters loyal to rebel Shi&#39;ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were firmly in control of the sacred Imam Ali mosque in Najaf and surrounding streets, a Reuters correspondent said.
8786
Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric whose Mahdi Army militia is fighting in Najaf with Iraqi and US forces, favors a political role in the nation&#39;s future rather than persisting with a military standoff, said Rime Allaf at London&#39;s ...
75829
Guns were largely silent in Najaf today for the first time in weeks, after Iraq&#39;s top Shiite cleric made a dramatic return to the holy city and swiftly won agreement from a rebel cleric and the government to end three weeks of fighting between his militia