More calls for Sadr to leave Najaf

From The BBC

Militants of radical Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr should leave Najaf, another leading Shia cleric has urged.
Sheikh Sadreddin Kubanji told worshippers at Friday prayers in the holy city that "the Najafis will be responsible for protecting Najaf".

Mr Sadr meanwhile defied US troops' threats to arrest him, as he left Najaf and delivered a strong anti-US message.


[...]

"Listen to the advice of the learned ones, " Mr Kubanji told worshippers at Najaf's Imam Ali Mausoleum, one of the most revered shrines in Shia Islam.

"You are our beloved youth and we care about you, but go back to your home where you came from and fight the occupation and the Baathists there," the cleric said.

I doubt Falluja will want them back.

Mr Sadr left his base in Najaf surrounded by a large number of heavily armed gunmen, including at least one carrying an anti-aircraft gun, the Associated Press news agency reported.

US troops stationed around Najaf did not intervene.

Interesting. So what's the plan? Let the Iraqis take care of him? Maybe he will just burn himself out. If he has nowhere to go he will look less and less influential. There are reports that his followers have already started to desert him.