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Article: Iraq's top cleric wins agreement from rebel and government for peace deal in Najaf
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- August 27, 2004
- Author:
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ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI, Associated Press Writer
AP Worldstream
08-27-2004
Dateline: NAJAF, Iraq
Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, made a dramatic return to Najaf and swiftly won agreement from a rebel cleric and the government to end three weeks of fighting between his militia and U.S.-Iraqi forces.
The renegade Muqtada al-Sadr accepted the proposal in a face-to-face meeting Thursday night with the 75-year-old al-Sistani. Hours afterward, Iraq's interim government also agreed to the deal.
Al-Sistani's highly publicized, 11th-hour peace mission would almost certainly boost his already high prestige in Iraq and cloak him in a statesman's mantle, showing that only he had ...