I'll be waiting for the "we were wrong" opinion pieces now that the al-Sadr uprising is over in Iraq. I'll be waiting a long time, I imagine. Maybe longer if I also wait for some praise for Donald Rumsfeld for directing this particular military operation. Wasn't Iraq supposed to be in flames by now? The Sunnis joining with the Shiites and the Kurds to drive out the Americans? Luckily our president knows how to differentiate the good guys from the bad guys and doesn't lump all Iraqis together as the press seems to do.

Shiite leaders and American officials said the armed followers of Mr. Sadr, known as the Mahdi Army, had cleared out of many parts of Najaf, and seemed to be getting ready to leave altogether. The Shiite leaders said American forces, who encircled the city in recent weeks, had also cleared out of the city center and areas near the Imam Ali Shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam.

The withdrawal, coupled with the reported meeting of the rival clerics, gave rise to hopes that Mr. Sadr's two-month-long rebellion may be ending.