Al Sadr's New Deal (a good example of media bias)

[jpgray]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20040818/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_najaf

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has accepted a peace plan drafted by the Iraqi National Conference, which would include laying down arms and withdrawing his militia from a holy shrine in the city of Najaf, a delegate told the conference Wednesday. There was no immediate confirmation from al-Sadr's office.

Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia has been battling U.S. and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf for nearly two weeks. A previous effort to broker a truce collapsed over the weekend, and al-Sadr, whose forces fought a two-month insurgency in the spring, has made contradictory statements in the past.

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Now, let's head to the way-back machine for a moment.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9763089%255E401,00.html

THE US military said today it had defeated the outlawed militia of flamboyant Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Sadr across central Iraq, and denied that there was any truce with the radical preacher.

"The Moqtada militia is militarily defeated. We have killed scores of them over the last few weeks, and that is in Najaf alone," Brigadier General Mark Hertling, one of the top US commanders in charge of Najaf, told AFP.

"Over the past several days, Moqtada's militia has lost much of their stomach for fighting," he said, also declaring victory in the central cities of Kut, Diwaniyah and Karbala, dogged by fighting over the past two months.

"We have also destroyed their weapons stores and their offensive capability," he said.

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So when the Pentagon has a history of contradictory statements, it's not exactly newsworthy, is it?