Sadr wants a rally in Najaf

Reuters:

Thousands of Iraqis streamed to the holy southern city of Najaf on Sunday in response to a call by fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for a big anti-American protest on Monday.

Sadr, who blames the U.S.-led invasion for Iraq's unrelenting violence, has urged Iraqis to protest on a day that marks the fourth anniversary of when American forces swept into central Baghdad.

"In order to end the occupation, you will go out and demonstrate," Sadr, who accuses U.S. forces of deliberately fomenting civil strife in Iraq, said in a statement.

...

Sadr, who has been keeping a low profile, called on his Mehdi Army militia and Iraqi security forces to stop fighting in the volatile city of Diwaniya and stop playing into the hands of U.S. forces who he said had stirred up civil strife.

Iraqi and U.S. forces have clashed with militiamen in Diwaniya since launching an operation on Friday to wrest control of the southern city from the Mehdi Army....

...

Sadr is sending a mixed message for a good reason.

He knows that his militia would be destroyed in a stand up match with US forces so he is telling the ones in Diwaniya to stand down before they are completely destroyed. His call for a march in Najaf is an attempt to rally support for his plummeting political s base which has suffered since he went into hiding when the surge began.

He has lost control of the agenda in Baghdad and elsewhere and is quickly becoming irrelevant. He want last long in that state so he has to try to recapture some political viability.