Sadr forces hide weapons

Washington Post:

The instructions delivered by emissaries of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr at a recent meeting in Baghdad were clear to militiaman Massan Abdul Hussein.

"They informed us to hide the weapons," Abdul Hussein recalled of the Jan. 21 meeting in the Shula neighborhood. "They said: 'We will not allow anyone to carry any arms, even if it's a pistol under their shirt. This is not acceptable.' "

Abdul Hussein, 30, considers himself a minor figure in the Mahdi Army, the powerful yet amorphous band of thousands of Sadr followers that the Pentagon said in November had "the greatest negative effect on the security situation in Iraq." But Abdul Hussein said the militia's foot soldiers had received a clear message from Sadr's headquarters in southern Iraq as Iraqi and U.S. troops prepared an intensified security crackdown in the capital.

"We should try at all costs to avoid any confrontation with the American forces, and even if they raid our offices or our houses, we should try to avoid a confrontation," he said. "We do not want this to lead to a larger outbreak of violence."

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So, does that sound like US forces will be in teh middle of a bloody civil war, or does it sound like a bunch of guys who want to avoid contact with US forces at all costs? The fact is that these guys have been focusing on the same enemy we have been fighting. They just have more primitive rules of engagement that permit torture and murder. One of the big mistakes the new Iraqi government made was to give them free reign. They did however accomplish one of their goals. The scared the heck out of the Sunni fighters and their supporters and caused many Sunnis to flee the country. What they have to do now is show that they can live under the rule of law.

It could be that they are just lying low in hopes that the Democrats will pull the troops out and let them get back to their grisly task.