the Greater Nomadic Council

Cracking Down Doesn't Always Work

Remember a few months ago when there was heavy fighting with Moqtada al-Sadr's militia and many wanted us to go in to Najaf and other cities to wipe them out? Remember how they complained that we had essentially surrendered the city to the insurgents, that our policy would only show cowardice and embolden our attackers? I wonder what they say now:

Al-Hayat reports that previous disputes between Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and junior cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have now been completely resolved.

And:

Australian Broadcasting reports that a hard core of Mahdi Army militiamen still holds the shrine of Ali in Najaf, but that the US military has decided against trying to go in and sweep them out. (Good move.) The young Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on his militiamen to leave Najaf, and substantial numbers have...

This is good news even if there are still some difficulties to be worked out. I wonder if those that crowed for us to take out al-Sadr, but have decried the media's poor coverage of good news in Iraq—two groups, but with substantial overlap between them—will gladly report this.