Al-Sadr says U.S. can't beat his militia

He portrayed the American withdrawal from Najaf as a sign of weakness.
KUFA, Iraq (AP) -- Rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr declared U.S. forces can never defeat his Mahdi militia in a defiant speech read out to 2,000 supporters during the first Friday prayers since the end of a brutal three-week standoff with American troops.
Al-Sadr aides said the cleric initially planned to deliver the sermon himself from a makeshift pulpit on the street outside the Kufa mosque, which was closed last week after militants pulled out under the peace accord. But he abandoned the idea amid fears it could raise tensions.
Iraqi security forces sealed off roads and fired warning shots near the city in an effort to keep the jostling crowds in check.
"Many, but not all, think that the American army is invincible. But now it's appeared only truth is invincible," Sheik Jaber al-Khafaji, said in a statement read on al-Sadr's behalf. "America claims to control the world through globalization, but it couldn't do the same with the Mahdi Army."
Last week's accord that ended three weeks of fighting between U.S. forces and al-Sadr militiamen in Kufa's twin city of Najaf gave the interim government control of that city. It also disentangled U.S. forces from bitter street fighting while allowing al-Sadr and his militants to walk away free -- and keep their guns.
But al-Sadr portrayed the American withdrawal from Najaf's devastated Old City as a sign of U.S. military weakness. "We should keep in mind the lessons of what happened in Najaf," the cleric's statement said.
A rallying cry?
The remarks appeared intended to rally al-Sadr's forces. It was not clear whether they signaled a retreat from al-Sadr's commitment to talks between his envoys and the interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to stop weeks of clashes in the militant stronghold of Sadr City, a sprawling east Baghdad slum.
The cleric's public statements and subsequent actions have often been at odds. However, nothing in Friday's sermon suggested he was planning to immediately resume hostilities.
Al-Sadr has repeatedly rejected government demands that he disarm his militia, despite promises of millions of dollars in reconstruction aid for Sadr City. Calm returned to the neighborhood since talks began several days ago.
Friday's prayers had to be held on the street after al-Sadr handed over the mosque's keys to the office of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, which immediately shut its doors amid fears it could be reoccupied should fighting flare anew.
A sign pinned to the shrine's door simply said: "Closed for maintenance and cleaning."
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