“World attention again focused on the Mahdi Army in August 2004, when the US tried to arrest [radical Shi’i cleric Moqtada] al-Sadr in Najaf [Iraq], the Shi’is’ holiest city. A major battle ensued between 2,000 US Marines, 1,800 Iraqi security forces despatched by Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and 2,000 members of the Mahdi Army. The siege of the mosque where al-Sadr and thousands of followers took refuge, and the subsequent devastation of the city, lost the US key allies among moderate Iraqis.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Abdel Bari Atwan, The Secret History of al Qaeda, Page 210