Truce unlikely to end desire to die a martyr
'When I die, my mother will give out chocolates at my funeral'
The gravediggers have nearly finished plot 195 of the special section of the ancient cemetery devoted to those who died as part of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army.
'The martyr Kalem Jawad Bahri died in Babylon on May 17, 2004,' reads one tombstone.
A truce between the Sadr militiamen and coalition forces was announced nearly two weeks ago, but the football-field sized space allotted for those who died in Mr Sadr's nationwide uprising against the US-led occupation is filling up fast.
'We saw some American tanks violating the truce by coming inside the city's border,' said Amir Hassanal-Heili, 29, a Sadr militiaman and student of religion holding a rocket-propelled grenade launcher on a Najaf street corner. 'We have the authorisation to attack them.'
New Prime Minister Iyad Alawi has said nine other Iraqi militias will be disbanded. Under the plan, an estimated 100,000 armed men who fought against Saddam Hussein will either be employed in the civil service or merged with the nation's armed forces.
Dr Alawi said he expected the plan to be 90 per cent complete by January. Despite the weight given to Dr Alawi's announcement, most of the militias that have agreed to disband - including the Kurdish militias and those of the Dawa Party, the Iraqi National Accord, the Iraqi National Congress and others - have either already shown their allegiance to, or have a political stake in, Iraq's new political order.
Almost none of the groups signing the agreement include the Shi'ite militias that sprang up following the collapse of Hussein's government last year and have increased security woes in the country's Shi'ite south.
Despite claims from the coalition that Mr Sadr's fighters are off the streets, self-described loyalists continue to bear arms and vow to fight against US forces.
'We've decided not to leave Najaf,' said Ali Abbas Mohammad, 17, from Karbala.
'We've decided to stay and to either die for the sake of the holy shrines or be victorious.'
Hundreds of young men died fighting the Americans, but Hosam al-Hosseini, a spokesman for Mr Sadr, claimed a great victory over America.
'We consider it a victory because the Americans entered Fallujah after three weeks,' he said. 'Here it's six weeks and the US still has not occupied Najaf.'
Back outside in the blistering mid-day heat, the fighters of the Mehdi Army continue to roam the streets, hungering for martyrdom.
Mr Heili said his mother would not shed any tears if he were killed by American soldiers.
'When I die, my mother will give out chocolates at my funeral,' he said.
