Radical cleric rejects apology from Bush for abuse of POWs

The cleric rallied thousands, who chanted against the United States.
KUFA, Iraq (AP) -- Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr denounced the U.S. abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, dismissing an apology by President Bush and demanding today that the American soldiers charged with abuse be tried in Iraqi courts.
Meanwhile, one of al-Sadr's senior aides told worshippers in Basra that anyone capturing a female British soldier can keep her as a slave. Waving an assault rifle, Sheik Abdul-Sattar al-Bahadli also said anyone capturing a British soldier will receive about $350 and anyone killing one will receive $150.
He held what he said were documents and photographs of three Iraqi women being raped at British-run prisons in Iraq.
Fighting in Najaf
American soldiers fought al-Sadr militiamen in Najaf overnight, and six members of a family, including three children, were killed in the cross fire. At least one militiaman also was killed.
In the northern city of Mosul, a roadside bomb killed four Iraqi policemen on patrol.
U.S. troops and militiamen loyal to al-Sadr clashed near holy shrines in Karbala, while gunmen killed two journalists from Polish television who were driving from Baghdad to Najaf.
Cleric speaks
With hundreds of nearby U.S. troops on a mission to capture him, al-Sadr arrived from Najaf at the main mosque in Kufa surrounded by a large number of heavily armed black-garbed gunmen, including at least one carrying an anti-aircraft gun.
"Yes, yes, to freedom! Yes, yes, to independence!," several thousand worshippers chanted as the young renegade cleric delivered a sermon condemning the United States for abusing Iraqi detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.
"What sort of freedom and democracy can we expect from you when you take such joy in torturing Iraqi prisoners?" said al-Sadr, his shoulders draped with a white coffin shroud symbolizing his readiness for martyrdom.
Al-Sadr demanded that guards who have been charged with abuse be handed over to Iraqi courts for trial and dismissed expressions of outrage and apology from President Bush.
"I tell this to Bush: Your statements are not enough. They [the guards] must be punished in kind," al-Sadr said.
Holding back
U.S. troops have not moved to capture al-Sadr for the past month as he has attended the Kufa prayers. The military has been treading carefully in its confrontation with al-Sadr and his al-Mahdi Army militia, fearing that too much aggression near some of Shiism's holiest shrines will inflame Iraq's Shiite majority.
Still, U.S. forces have intensified their crackdown over the past week, with increasingly bloody clashes in several southern cities.
Large explosions and gunfire were heard today near the mosque serving as al-Sadr's headquarters in central Karbala -- about 500 yards from two major shrines. The shooting was heard soon before noon prayers today.
The gunfire followed hours of clashes in at least three other parts of the city that lasted into the morning. There was no immediate word on casualties.