Sadr Caves Again

Sadr's Mahdi army offers to lay down its arms:

Iraq’s largest and most dangerous militia will voluntarily disband if Shia scholars advise its leader to do so, officials said yesterday — a dramatic move that could quell much of the fighting in the war-torn country.

Aides to Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr said that he would send delegations to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a moderate religious leader in Najaf, and to senior clerics in to consult on whether he should stand down his 60,000-strong al-Mahdi Army.

Yesterday, Iraq's prime minister, Nouri Maliki, told CNN that the Sadr's political movement would not be allowed to take part in elections unless it disbanded its militia:

A decision was taken. . . that they no longer have a right to participate in the political process or take part in the upcoming elections unless they end the Mehdi Army and the unanimous decision agreed on by the political powers today. And this is the first time political powers dare say this -- the solution comes from dissolution, which means solving the problem comes in no other way other than dissolving the Mehdi Army. This is a very important point, this government, previous governments or coalition forces were not able to achieve any decisive victory the way it was achieved here, and the way it came out of the battle with full support from all different sides.

Rather than be excluded from the provincial elections scheduled for later this year, Sadr caved and is looking to save face by seeking the blessing of Sistani to stand down.

This unfolding victory for the Government of Iraq is further evidence of just how wrong the mainstream media got it when they declared Sadr the victor in the recent Battle for Basra. Again, from Maliki's CNN interview:

ROBERTSON: Many people say that this has actually weakened you because it set back security in Basra, it set back security in Sadr City, that you've been obligated to the ian government for resolving this. This makes you weaker the critics say.

AL-MALIKI: [Laughing] This is one of the issues that media outlets should look into thoroughly. Before we launched the operation in Basra, the ports were completely under the control of these militias, smuggling was a routine, burglary and looting were also ongoing. Now Basra is back as a city under the control of the state, and its inhabitants are optimistic now about what the state can do for them. Now and for the first time Iraqis stand strong by their state after they saw the state take a decisive stand against this gang that is on cornered and on the run. These facts? The state came out with the maximum power, nationalism, popular and national support that expressed itself, and for the first time, the one who is cornered and defeated is this gang.

Don't forget it was Sadr, not Maliki, that called for a cease fire in Basra. The Maliki government did not agree to the terms for a truce that Sadr issued. Instead the Iraqi government called Sadr's order for his fighters to pull off the streets a "positive step," and continued its operations.