AFP reports that the U.S. army considered arresting Sadr late last year. Sadr wasn't arrested to avoid inflaming Iraq's Shiite majority.
According to the AFP:
Sadr has used the interim six months to put in place his militias, numbering between 3,000 and 6,000, according to Pentagon figures, launching a violent campaign against US-led coalition forces in Iraq.
[. . .]
At the time Sadr was wanted for alleged participation in last April's murder of a religious cleric, Abdel Majid al-Khoi. His militia, the Mehdi Army, had led a number of ambushes and attacks against US forces in Baghdad and Karbala.
There is only one way to deal with a thug such as Sadr, remove him and render him powerless. That requires disarming his band of guerrillas. It would have been better to have arrested Sadr last year. Now we appear weak. We have managed to inflame the opposition and alienate the center.
American military and Iraqi civilians are now paying the price for our earlier timidity.
We must learn from our mistakes. We cannot compromise with evil. It is always taken as a sign of weakness.
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