Al-Sistani may have left his return to Najaf too late. The question is, did he do so on purpose?

The Guardian reports that al-Sadr's uprising seems to be near its end. Al-Sistani's marchers may arrive to find little more than a mopping up operation.

But al-Sadr remains at large, it seems. His Mehdi Army - who many Iraqis detest as a band of violent thugs, by the way - may have been decimated. But his wider support base may have grown considerably across Iraq, including in the Sadr City slum area of Baghdad.