After weeks of bitter fighting for control of Najaf, the Shias' holiest city, and in the Shia slums of Baghdad, an edgy peace now seems to be holding. But it is unclear who has come out on top. Probably not the interim government of lyad Allawi, which failed to squash the turbulent cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia, which had taken over the Imam Ali mosque, Najaf's most cherished shrine. Instead, it was the frail Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who, despite his repeated disavowal of worldly political ambition, proved able to calm things down and fix a truce. What does this say about the respective powers of Iraq's three most prominent Shias—Mr Sadr, Mr Allawi and Mr Sistani? Who, really, has the beef?
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