Seems he is getting his ass kicked and is looking for a way out.
Link HereShia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr vowed today to press on with his fight against the US-led occupation of Iraq but said he would disband his Mehdi Army militia if Shia leaders asked him to.
“If the Americans want to leave Iraq then this would bring peace, but their presence in Iraq is not peace and will lead to the spread of terrorism,” Sadr said in Najaf’s Imam Ali shrine, one of the Shia faith’s most sacred sites. “We are ready for any American escalation. We don’t expect anything else,” he told a rare news conference.
Sadr did not say whether talks over the past two days among Shia groups in Najaf had produced an agreement that could end his uprising. But he praised efforts by “honest parties” to try to end the crisis and accused US-led forces of sowing discord.
If Shia religious authorities issued a fatwa, or edict, telling him to disband his Mehdi Army militia then he would comply with it, Sadr said. “The dissolution of the Mehdi Army depends on the religious authorities. If they issue an edict to disband the Mehdi Army then we will disband it. If not, then it will remain to defend this country and its sanctity,” he said.
Yesterday, the US general commanding forces in the Najaf region indicated that elements of the Mehdi Army could be included in a local force which could take over security in Najaf. But Sadr said the Mehdi Army would not join such a force until foreign troops left Iraq.