A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

An aide to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was detained by U.S. troops in a Baghdad hotel on Tuesday and taken away in an armored U.S. military vehicle, witnesses said.

An Iraqi policeman and other witnesses said Hazem al-Araji, a cleric and aide to Sadr for a northern Baghdad district, was led out of a service entrance of the Palestine Hotel and into a waiting vehicle before being driven off...

Sadr, a virulently anti-American cleric, has led a violent Shi'ite uprising in some areas of Baghdad and across southern Iraq. His Mehdi Army militia briefly seized control of several southern towns and is still said to be in control of the holy cities of Kerbala and Najaf.

U.S. commanders have moved additional forces to Najaf and Kerbala and said their mission is to kill or capture Sadr and destroy his militia forces, believed to number around 5,000.