Surgetacular

One of the consequences of the surge and the renewed effort to pacify Baghdad is the direct confrontation with Muqtada al-Sadr and his Madhi Army. This confrontation, given the policy, was unavoidable. We cannot arrest or kill the guy because that would probably set off the remaining Shiites who are not already in the fight. Conversely, we cannot let his militia run wild murdering Sunni while trying to convince those same Sunni to lay down arms and participate in government. And here is the rub. Now that we are catching some of Sadr’s top people, he is pissed. He flexed his muscle last week and ordered tens of thousands of people to the streets in protest. Today, Sadr upped the ante.

BAGHDAD - The radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers in the Cabinet to abandon their posts on Monday, the head of the cleric's parliamentary bloc said, blaming the Iraqi leadership's refusal to respond to demands for a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal.

The order, while unlikely to topple Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's regime, deals a significant blow to the U.S.-backed leader, who relied on support from the Sadrists to gain office.

This is high stakes chicken. For the surge to work, we must neutralize Sadr and the Mahdi Army. Taking out Sadr is fraught with perils in it own right. Getting him back to the bargaining table seems unlikely. Letting him continue to garner power and prestige is likewise untenable. We are in one helluva box now…