"Soldiers of Heaven"

Not the National Review summit - but one account of the reported clash in Najaf between one murky force and another. Juan Cole offers a helpful primer on the various interpretations of the various reports. Money quote:

It seems most likely that this was Shiite on Shiite violence, with millenarian cultists making an attempt to march on Najaf during the chaos of the ritual season of Muharram. But who knows? It is also possible that the orthodox Shiites in control of Najaf hate the heretic millenarians and the threat of the latter was exaggerated. Darned if I know. The reports of the Army of Heaven being so well armed make no sense if it was a ragtag millenarian band. But those reports could be exaggerations, too.

From the reports I've read, it looks most likely this was a whack-job Shiite sect, aiming at the Shiite leadership during Ashura. Quite how fissiparous the Shiite forces are in Southern Iraq remains an open question.

(Photo: preparing for Ashura/Getty Images.)