Moqtada al-Sadr’s core supporters vowed on Friday there would be all-out war if U.S. forces stormed Najaf, saying Iraq’s Sh’ite Muslims would not let another of their leaders be killed with impunity. A 2,500-strong U.S. force is poised near the holy city of Najaf to kill or capture the young cleric, but has not yet attacked the city. The chances of peaceful compromise appeared to dim after Sadr vowed not to disband his Mehdi Army militia. “You Americans, do not fall into a quagmire and storm Najaf. Rivers of your blood will flow,” Sheikh Nasser al-Saedi told tens of thousands of Sadr supporters in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum, named after the cleric’s revered father and uncle. Full Story
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