Despite the announced truce in Basra and Nouri Maliki's return to Baghdad today, Iraqi government forces continue to round up and detain whole families of known Sadrist activists in the city. While the truce still holds, it is an ominous sign that fewer stores are open and fewer people are on the streets on Tuesday than the day before.
The residents of Basra probably have a pretty good idea of which way the winds are blowing.
The Iraqi government is firing tens of thousands of employees in the defense and civil establishments thought to have ties to the Sadrists.
Rocket and mortar attacks on the Green Zone continue unabated. The American Embassy is being hard targeted. Employees are sleeping at their work stations and required to wear body armor inside the building. Plans are reportedly being made to move the Embassy to an undisclosed military base outside the Green Zone.
Does it sound to you as if things are returning to normal?
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