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Article: Iraq cleric brokers peace in Najaf
- Article from:
- Daily Breeze
- Article date:
- August 27, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 Daily Breeze. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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NAJAF, Iraq -- Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-
Sistani, made a dramatic return to Najaf on Thursday 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, eleventh-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 the ability to
force an accord between two sides that loathe ...