Up to 3,000 U.S. soldiers are now massed outside the Shiite’s holiest city in Iraq, Najaf, where the Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr has been holed up. On Monday Sadr pulled back his militia from controlling government buildings in Najaf, Karbala and Kufa. A U.S. commander said “My intent is to destroy Sadr’s militia, absolutely destroy it. And then to capture or kill Sadr. That is our mission. We’re just waiting to be unleashed.” A U.S. attack on the holy city of Najaf could inflame anti-U.S. sentiment among the Shiite community. The Iranian newspaper Baztab is reporting that the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has warned the occupying forces not to attack the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. Sistani, who is the most influential Shiite in Iraq, said if such an attack occurred the religious leadership of the Shiites would fight to its last breath. In Baghdad earlier today US troops arrested a representative of Sadr in a central Baghdad hotel.