A journey into the epicenter of the Sadr standoff

This was an area where cars had been struck by sniper fire in the past, usually assumed to be from Mahdi Army fighters. The silence was unsettling. It allowed for too much thinking, too much doubt.

Five minutes later, we reached the first US Army checkpoint. They had not been informed we were coming. This was precisely what we had feared. A specialist named Milner from north of Dallas called his sergeant, who called up command.

We were cleared to pass.

We made one last attempt to call the Mahdi Army inside the shrine, and proceeded forward. On the horizon we could see the gold dome of the shrine.

If anyone was going to turn back, now was the time. Eighteen cars suddenly dwindled to eight.

We moved past one more US checkpoint, and then into a no man's land. To our right was the old cemetery, site of what US officials have called the heaviest hand-to-hand fighting US forces have seen since Vietnam. Ahead of us, we could see Mahdi Army fighters moving around into firing position. We waved our white flag and proceeded slowly.

As we approached the first Mahdi Army check point, I glanced at my watch. 3 p.m. A Mahdi militiaman approached our car (did I mention that we were up front?) and asked who we were. Yes, he had heard from the Mahdi Army command that some journalists were coming. His conversation was stopped by a sudden mortar blast, just 50 feet away, in the intersection.

We abandoned our cars; we needed to present a smaller target.

This was a warning shot, we assumed from the Mahdi Army, but the fighter insisted it was from the Americans. He welcomed us, and proceeded to direct us to the shrine.

Ahead of us, the streets of the Old City were full of hundreds of Mahdi Army fighters, their Kalashnikovs and RPGs held aloft, stamping their feet, and chanting their devotion to Sadr. "We sacrifice our lives to you, Sayed," they said, using the honorific term for those who claim their descendance from the prophet Muhammad.

Inside the shrine itself, there were no weapons to be seen, but there were hundreds of Mahdi Army supporters, some of them familiar faces from a demonstration one week ago in Baghdad. They were voluntary human shields, the youngest perhaps 8 years old, the oldest 70. Together, they marched around and chanted, turning an impromptu press photo op into a punk rock mosh pit.

We were led around to the north side of the shrine and into an air-conditioned office, where Sadr's spokesmen, Sheikh Ali Smeisim, gave a press conference. Smeisim's statement was a complete reversal of what we had been told. He said that Sadr had accepted all of the conditions of the National Conference delegation, although he was unable to meet the delegation in person, because of concerns for his safety.

"Now the ball is in their court," Smeisim said. "We are waiting for the National Conference to send another delegation to us, and then everything will be solved peacefully."

Moments later, another senior Sadr aide, Ahmed al Sheibani told reporters that the Mahdi Army rejected the government's new list of demands announced Thursday. "It is very clear we reject them."

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