More on Sadr Negotiations

RFE-RL has a report that seems to confirm yesterday's post about negotiations between the CPA/IGC and Muqtada Sadr. The Shi'ite Islamic al-Da'wa party, which is represented on the IGC, says on its web site (not reading it myself) that it reached a deal with representatives of Sadr to end the fighting in exchange for the charges against Sadr being dropped until the handover to an Iraqi government. Bremer, however, rejected this deal and demanded that Sadr turn himself in. This is probably context for the statement translated by Juan Cole in which he calls for an end to fighting. The text of this statement also provides evidence for my growing belief that Sadr is not in control of the entire uprising.