It's About Damn Time, al-Maliki

Iraq's PM finally came to the blatantly obvious conclusion that anyone with eyes could see: namely, that Shiite radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia forces were mostly made up of sectarian death squads committing mass murder, mostly against Sunnis. Not that I don't understand the Shiite desire for revenge after decades of brutal oppression by the Sunnis under Saddam (and there were probably some really bad Sunnis taken out by the death squads too), but if there is to be a multi-ethnic society in Iraq based on order and the rule of law, such killings just can't be allowed to happen. I don't know why it took President Bush so long to tell him to quit protecting this terrorist and his band of killers or else we'd leave him to the tender mercies of the Sunni inurgents/terrorists, but thankfully it finally happened late last year. Now, maybe we can get down to the important business of wiping out the killers and terrorists of every stripe, building up the army and police forces, and rebuilding Iraq overall. I just hope this hasn't come too late to save Iraq and our mission there.

"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki decided to drop his protection of the feared Shiite militia of a radical anti-American cleric after U.S. intelligence reports convinced him the armed group was deeply infiltrated by death squads whose actions were isolating him both in the Arab world and among moderate political forces at home, two government officials said on Sunday.

Al-Maliki's turnaround on the Mahdi Army was puzzling because as late as Oct. 31, he had intervened to end a U.S. blockade of Sadr City, the northeast Shiite enclave in Baghdad that is headquarters to the militia. It is held responsible for much of the sectarian bloodshed that has turned the capital into a battle zone over the past year.

Shiite militias began taking revenge after more than two years of incessant bomb and shooting attacks by Sunni insurgents."