The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost. Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years. But the Iraqi government and the U.S.

BAGHDAD _ After failing to break the resistance of Shiite militias in the five-day siege of oil-rich Basra, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sent a top general to hold talks with his Shiite rival, Muqtada al-Sadr, Saturday night only to be rebuffed by the firebrand cleric, an Iraqi official close to the negotiations said.

BAGHDAD _ As gun battles raged in the southern port city of Basra, parts of Baghdad and neighboring provinces, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki in effect declared war on Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, saying he'd fight the militia "to the end" and never negotiate.

Violence raged around Baghdad and southern Iraq, where confrontations between Iraqi security forces and rebel militia members killed at least 100 people. In Baghdad, U.S.

By Robert H. Reid Associated Press BAGHDAD -- A roadside bomb killed three American soldiers north of Baghdad on Saturday, pushing the U.S. death toll in the five- year conflict to nearly 4,000. Also Saturday, Iraqi authorities reported that a U.S.