Basra Assault Exposed U.S., Iraqi Limits

"The plan of Basra is not new," Rikabi said, adding that the government had even set up a headquarters in Basra to prepare for the strike. "He's been working on it for more than six months."

Rikabi said Maliki decided to launch the offensive on March 25 after learning that the security situation in the city was deteriorating quickly. He said physicians in the city had gone on strike because two of their colleagues had been killed and scores of people were being killed daily. Rikabi said the prime minister consulted his security advisers, his ministerial security committee and U.S. military commanders before dispatching troops. He rejected the criticism that the operation had political goals, saying the objective was to apprehend specific outlaws.

A senior official in Iraq's Defense Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to discuss military operations publicly, said Iraqi troops were overwhelmed by the second day of fighting.

"I was afraid the Iraqi forces would break," he said.

The official said he estimated that 30 percent of the Iraqi troops abandoned the fight before a cease-fire was reached. He also said that soldiers had been hindered by ammunition and food shortages and that some Iraqi police troops, who were supposed to be backing the Iraqi army, had actually supported the militias.

The official said the militias had 12,000 to 15,000 fighters -- roughly the same number as Iraqi troops. But being in their home territory gave the militias an advantage, he said.

As the fighting progressed, the official said, the militias received weapons from Iran, including mortars and other large weapons, a charge Iranian officials have persistently denied. The Iraqi army, meanwhile, received crucial air support from U.S. and British forces. "If the British and American forces were not there, the Mahdi Army would have gained a victory," he said.

On March 30, Sadr issued a statement, negotiated in the Iranian city of Qom, ordering his fighters to lay down their arms, provided the Iraqi government stopped conducting raids and detaining his followers and provided amnesty to his fighters. By the next day, attacks had dramatically subsided.

"It showed that the majority of Moqtada's followers obeyed his orders," said Sharif, the Shiite lawmaker from the Fadhila Party. "Maybe it's a message to the Iraqi government and the Americans that [Sadr] is able to control Iraq and turn it from a bad state to a good state" overnight, he said.

Many Sunni politicians applauded Maliki for going after Shiite militias after months of targeting mostly Sunni insurgents. Many Sunnis now view Iran as a greater enemy than the United States.

"What is behind those militias is the Iranian influence," said Falluji, the Sunni lawmaker. "So [Maliki's] willingness to comfort these groups and to try and end the state of chaos which Iran wants to sow in Iraqi society has made him stronger."

But Falluji was concerned that Sadr had met with Maliki's advisers in Iran. "The events in Basra have shown the weakness of the American role in Iraq and the strength of Iranian influence in Iraq," he said.

Special correspondents K.I. Ibrahim and Naseer Nouri contributed to this report.