Sadr Back in Iraq, U.S. Generals Say

On Thursday, Maliki asked parliament to approve replacements, all of them political independents. But with many legislators absent, there was no quorum. A vote was rescheduled for Sunday.

The U.S. military commanders said they believe Sadr will deliver a sermon at his gold-domed mosque in Kufa soon, perhaps as early as Friday. The cleric's last public appearance at the mosque was in November.

"He has a huge sway on a big part of the population here, so it's important to pay attention to him," Fil said, adding that U.S. forces would not be on special alert.

"No one knows if Moqtada is going to show up tomorrow because even his personal bodyguards don't know whether he's going to the Friday ceremony or not," said Haider al-Surfi, another Sadr aide in Najaf.

Although Sadr has tacitly backed the security plan, even allowing U.S. troops to set up a base inside his Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City, he has continued to condemn the United States, keenly aware that his legitimacy is derived largely from his opposition to the American occupation.

Odierno said of Sadr that "it's unclear where he's headed." Some observers, he added, had told him that Sadr might be "ready to negotiate behind the scenes" with the United States and its Iraqi allies. If so, that would represent a dramatic shift; the Mahdi Army and U.S. forces fought intense battles in 2004.

But other observers, Odierno said, believe that Sadr will continue to rail against the United States as an occupying force. Odierno said he did not expect Sadr to show his hand in any sermon he might give Friday.

In recent weeks, dozens of mortar shells and rockets have been fired into Baghdad's Green Zone, which includes the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government buildings. Fil blamed the "indirect fire" on a resurgence of Mahdi Army violence in the capital.

"I think their activities have begun to rise, with increased small-arms fire, increased indirect fire, especially against" the Green Zone, Fil said.

But another Army officer here said he thought the Green Zone shelling was being done by rogue elements of the Mahdi Army. "We don't see regular JAM as the guys attacking us now," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position.

The officer added that although he was fairly confident that Sadr had returned to Kufa, he would not be entirely certain until the cleric makes an appearance. "I wouldn't take it as gospel until you sight Elvis in the building," he said.

Special correspondent Waleed Saffar in Baghdad and a special correspondent in Najaf contributed to this report.