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Sadr Offers to Disarm & Pull Out of Najaf

HeadlineMay 27, 2004

In Iraq, a ceasefire may be emerging in Najaf between Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the U.S. According to one of Sadr’s aides, Sadr is now offering to withdraw and disarm his militia from Najaf under the condition that the U.S. pull its troops from the holy city and for criminal charges against him to be dropped. A senior official in the Shiite Dawa party confirmed that a preliminary agreement has been reached. The deal comes less than a day after U.S. forces arrested one of Sadr’s top lietenants, Riyadh al-Nouri, in a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday. Members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council traveled to Najaf today to help finalize the truce. Three Shiite members of the Council announced they would stage a sit-in at a mosque in nearby Kufa until the U.S. troops leave the city. We go now to Najaf for a report from independent filmmaker James Longley

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