Whack-a-Mullah

The Mehdi Army is the militia arm of the Sadrist movement in Iraq. The Sadrists are a Shiia political movement appealing to the young, the poor, the religiously fundamental and those who hate America. They pretty much have something for everyone. The leader of this movement is Moctada al-Sadr, a virulently anti-American, young holy man. The movement is named not after him but his father, the most revered Shiite martyr in modern times. The Sadrists and their leader are friendly with Iran but no more so than Nouri al-Maliki and his Badrist allies or any of the Iraqi Shiite political groups. The Sadrists are the largest political organization in Iraq and enjoy wide political support. It was they, who enabled Maliki to become Prime Minister before withdrawing their support and turning their back on participation in the legislature, a year ago. Local elections are coming up in Iraq. Without the support of the Sadrists, Maliki's coalition would end up wielding no real power outside of the governmental complex in Baghdad.

Maliki, a man with no military experience and widely despised as an American tool, among the populace, has taken personal command of the Iraqi Army and is moving against the Mehdi Army in it's Southern stronghold city of Basra. Basra has been a Zona Libre since the British unilaterally pulled out last Summer. He will have to do this on his own. If the Americans intervene in his aid, destroying property and inflicting casualties, anti-American sentiment in Iraq and the Middle East will become even higher than the alarming levels where it currently resides. If American forces take casualties, Bush loses his tepid and ever weakening claims, at home, that the much vaunted quarter trillion dollar and counting "surge", has been a good move. Maliki has the advantage in manpower, training, weapons and logistics. The Americans will provide him with air support, intelligence, and whatever else they can , short of actually sending in troops to fight.

This is going to be very interesting to watch. If Maliki is successful in suppressing the Sadrists, it doesn't guarantee anything. It could still turn out very badly and probably will do nothing to change the loathing that virtually all Iraqis and indeed, the entire Middle Eastern Community, feel for him. If he loses, his government will fall. The Sunnis would like that. It would give them another opportunity to secure meaningful participation. How the Iranians feel about it is any one's guess. So far, Bush is lauding this move by Maliki as proof that the Iraqi Government is taking hold and beginning to take control of their own internal security but virtually every utterance the poor bastard has ever made has been horribly wrong.

It's too early yet to tell how this is going to come out. However it does, it will be very telling. As a testament to how important this will be, the fundo-fascist sites aren't even mentioning, much less analyzing it. When that happens, you know the pee is running down their, skinny, hairless little legs.