5/27/2004

“Increasingly isolated politically, and with hundreds of his [Mahdi Army militia] fighters dead, [radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-] Sadr agreed, on May 27 [2004], to a deal with Iraqi leaders, approved by U.S. officials (under pressure from [Grand Ayatollah Ali al-] Sistani). Sadr would pull his forces off the streets of Najaf and Kufa, withdraw his nonresident fighters from both cities, and close down his Sharia courts, while the Americans would withdraw most of their forces from the two cities as well. Sadr was not required to surrender or disarm, though the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority] would not admit this publicly.”

 – Larry Diamond, Squandered Victory, Page 245