DOESN'T ALLAH DESERVE BETTER?:

Cleric's followers remove weapons from shrine (Associated Press, August 20, 2004)

Militiamen loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr removed weapons from the revered Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf but remained in control of the holy site Friday amid efforts to end their 2-week-old uprising.

Fighters from al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia were inside the shrine but left their guns outside. Armed militiamen continued to circulate around the walled shrine compound in Najaf's Old City.

The firebrand anti-U.S. cleric agreed to take a further step and surrender the site to Iraq's highest Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani.

But in the latest twist in the tortuous search for a resolution to the crisis, al-Sadr and al-Sistani aides late Friday night were still trying to agree on how to transfer control. An aide to al-Sistani insisted al-Sadr's followers must completely leave the site before religious authorities would take the keys to the shrine that symbolize control.

With lilly-livered "martyrs" like this it's no wonder He's withdrawn his favor.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 20, 2004 4:28 PM