http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343231,00.html

I know Al Sadr's pulled his fighters off of the street before. Does this recent event show progress in Iraq or is Al Sadr regrouping his forces?

What ever the reason, it was done for his benefit as far as he is concerned.

He wants to be Mullah In Charge.

Well yeah, he pulled his fighters off the street last year for a little while, but then resumed again. I don't know enough about his relationship and views of the Iraqi government to have an opinion though. The article quoted him as saying that any fighter that attacks aspects of the Iraqi Government does not belong to his militia. I'm not sure what he means by that...a step towards Iraqis not killing Iraqis? Who knows...

It would really be interesting to really know what the hell is really going on in this fukked up war.

[quote][POLITICS: Embarrassed U.S. Starts to Disown Basra Operation
Analysis by Gareth Porter*

WASHINGTON, Mar 31 (IPS) - As it became clear last week that the "Operation Knights Assault" in Basra was in serious trouble, the George W. Bush administration began to claim in off-the-record statements to journalists that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had launched the operation without consulting Washington.

The effort to disclaim U.S. responsibility for the operation is an indication that it was viewed as a major embarrassment just as top commander Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are about to testify before Congress.

Behind this furious backpedaling is a major Bush administration miscalculation about Moqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army, which the administration believed was no longer capable of a coordinated military operation. It is now apparent that Sadr and the Mahdi Army were holding back because they were still in the process of retraining and reorganisation, not because Sadr had given up the military option or had lost control of the Mahdi Army. /QUOTE]

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41804