From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

Brooke and Bob are away this week.

I'm Mike Peska.

Inside Baghdad's heavily fortified international zone this week, the Iraqi government

inched closer to a constitutional democracy as a political convention settled on the makeup

of an interim parliament.

Though those negotiations were tense, they were overshadowed by even greater tension

in the southern city of Najaf.

U.S. and Iraqi forces there faced off against followers of Shiite cleric Mokhtada al-Sader,

who were holed up in the Imam Ali Shrine, one of Shia Islam's most sacred sites.

The news of the fighting was full of ultimatums,

tentative truces, and aerial bombardment, reflecting the general fog of war. While Al-Sadder's

tactics are vexing, his motivations are well-known, but still he tends to be treated as an

international man of mystery. Here's an AP story from Thursday. What's clear about

radical Iraqi cleric, Maktata al-Sada is he wants power, U.S. officials say. What's less certain

is what he wants to do with that power or how far he'll go to get it. As the U.S. government

struggles to understand al-S.ada and his motives, That uncertainty is complicating efforts to end one of the

greatest threats to stability in Iraq. But what's truly puzzling, according to University of

Michigan History professor and blogger Juan Cole, is the aura of inscrutability that surrounds

Maktada al-Sotter. If they're confused, they're not paying attention in terms of overall questions of what he wants,

what he envisages for the future, I think he's been very clear and very consistent.

He wants the United States out of Iraq now immediately.

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