A Deadly Face-Off.

Iraq is almost under control, as of April 27, 2004. The men in charge are trying to pretend so, anyway. But after weeks of bloodshed, "control" is a slippery term. When the worst of the violence ended, a total of 90 U.S. and Coalition fighters were dead. Iranian mediators and moderate Iraqi clerics were still haggling with aides of the renegade cleric Moqtada al-Sadr over the terms for an end to his uprising. U.S. Marines were no closer to subduing the city of Fallujah, despite the deaths of several hundred Iraqis there.