Muqtada al-Sadr's threats present the US military in Iraq with an unpalatable choice, writes Rory McCarthy in Najaf
America's newest enemy in Iraq spent yesterday sitting in a back room of his cramped office on the corner of Najaf's Street of the Prophet, promising in apocalyptic tones an unparalleled fight against the American occupation.
Muqtada al-Sadr chose his refuge carefully. Here, the radical young cleric, whose supporters have staged violent demonstrations across southern Iraq for the past three days, is in the shadow of the holiest shrine in the Shia Islamic faith.
Earlier in the day he had moved out of his mosque in the nearby town of Kufa, gambling that the revered, golden dome of the Imam Ali shrine will protect him from America's threat of arrest.
To get to him, the Americans will have to fight their way through dozens of his armed men standing guard outside the office, dressed in black and bearing Kalashnikov assault rifles, spare ammunition clips and hand-grenades. They danced in circles when they were handed Mr Sadr's latest statement.
"I am ready to shed my blood for my holy city, my clerics and my society," wrote Mr Sadr (30).
He described the American president as the "evil Bush", and demanded he hand power immediately to the Iraqis.
"If our dearest society is attacked we should not remain silent," he wrote. "Now the Iraqi society has become one body with all the sects against the power of evil and darkness. You should pray for victory against the enemies and let it be the first step to liberate Iraq."
His threats present the US military with an unpalatable choice: either commanders attempt to execute the arrest warrant issued for Sheikh al-Sadr and so risk a bloody battle in the heart of one of Iraq's most sensitive cities, or they let him be and leave his movement stronger than ever.
Yesterday his aides, a movement of young, populist clerics schooled here in Najaf, were in ebullient mood. "The American forces are very embarrassed," said Sheikh Qais al-Qazali, the white-turbaned chief of his Baghdad branch, as he walked through the back streets of the ancient city, bodyguard in tow.
"This is an uprising, an intifada. It is a popular reaction and now we have to let society do what it decides to do." Sheikh al-Sadr's armed militia, the Jaish al-Mehdi, or the Army of the Hidden Imam, yesterday controlled the area around the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf as well as Mr Sadr's own mosque in the town of Kufa, nearby.
Further north in the Shia suburbs of Baghdad it is a similar situation. In al-Show'la, where American helicopter gunships fought with armed protesters on Monday, Sheikh al-Sadr's supporters had largely enforced a strike. All schools were closed and even teachers spoke of their support for the outspoken cleric.
The young cleric's great strength is that for now at least he has captured a moment of acute frustration and desperation among a large slice of the population of Iraq's southern cities. Not all may support his often violent agenda, but many appear to admire him for confronting the Americans.
Najaf itself is home to all Iraq's most important Shia clergy, most of whom have a reputation for conservatism and caution. That approach still finds favour with some. In a barber's a mile from the Imam Ali shrine, Jasim Saghir (30) said his loyalty lay with Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's supreme Shia cleric, who has been far more measured in his criticisms of the occupation. "Muqtada is from our society and he is the son of a great cleric. But three-quarters of the Iraqi people follow Syed Sistani. It is his words we will obey."