Over 60 Days, Troops Suppressed an Uprising

Wright's tanks pounded back for hours as they looped through Kufa. When he returned to base, only one of three tanks was deemed "mission-capable." The following day Sadr's aides announced a truce.

"They may be poor, they may be untrained," Wright said. "But they are not cowards."

Before the start of Friday prayers a few days later, Burns sent a tank company across to verify the truce. It was the first daylight operation in weeks of combat.

The traffic appeared heavy when they crossed the bridge at 7:45 a.m. As they moved toward the mosque, a message blared from its loudspeaker, calling on Sadr's supporters to "fight for Allah and you will go to paradise." The firing started immediately.

"It was the first time I'd seen a Mahdi Army fighter up close," Wright said. "He was 17 or so. I was shocked he was so young."

Riding in an open Humvee, Spec. Rodney Clayborn, 21, swung down an alley following the source of grenade fire. Moments later he looked toward the rooftops and saw a ball of flame rushing at him.

"I tried to shoot it down," he said. "But it hit and blew up right in front of us."

The grenade concussion knocked Clayborn out and when he revived the Humvee was being riddled with rifle fire. He scrambled out of his seat, bleeding from shrapnel wounds to his arms, legs and right ear. He saw his sergeant on the ground, wounded badly in the arm.

"He asked me if he was going to make it," recalled Clayborn, tears streaking his smooth face. "I kind of paused, and said, 'Yes, you're going to be fine.' He didn't believe me."

He wasn't sure himself, although he turned out to be right. Screaming for help, Clayborn summoned several soldiers who pulled him out of the alley.

"I think it's God's plan to have me stay here until this mission is finished," said Clayborn, of Lancaster, Calif., who received a Purple Heart after the fight.

The cease-fire took effect on June 4, days after troops arrested two key Sadr lieutenants, one of them in a convoy that commanders believed may have carried Sadr himself. Within days, Sadr announced plans to form a political party and compete in elections next year. What remained of his army flowed out of the city in minibuses.

"We'd routinely stop caravans of men 18 to 25 years old," said Capt. Brandon Payne, 29, of Chattanooga. "They had no weapons, so we couldn't do anything."

No one is certain exactly how many Sadr militants remain, although division intelligence officers say there are no more than several hundred. Dempsey said he never formally agreed to a cease-fire, and said he could not be sure that the fighters who survived would not regroup. Nonetheless, he defended the timing of the decision to stop fighting.

"It was clear there was a point at which the people of Najaf would blame the militia for what was happening, and beyond that they would blame us," Dempsey said of the decision. "We watched that point carefully."

But many soldiers believe the decision was premature, and that it will haunt the Iraqi government after the 1st Armored Division has gone home.

"Our effort here has been semi-wasted," said Staff Sgt. Luke Andrzejewski, 35, of San Francisco. "They have lived to fight again, and that's exactly what they'll do."