In Washington, the Bush administration continued to downplay the Iraqi uprising. At a press conference on Wednesday Donald Rumsfeld said, the fighting was just the work of “thugs, gangs and terrorists,” and not a popular uprising. General Myers added that “it’s not a Shiite uprising. Sadr has a very small following.”

But the New York Times reports otherwise. Experts within the intelligence community said the U.S. is facing a broad-based Shiite uprising even if the rebellion has not been explicitly supported by the country’s chief Shiite leader, Grand Ayatollah Sistani.

On Wednesday Sistani gave his first official statement on the recent uprising. He called for a peaceful resolution but said “We condemn the way the occupying forces are dealing with current events.”