WHO DO THEY THINK GREEN-LIGHTED THE SURGE?:

Edging Their Way Into Sadr City: U.S. Officers Try Negotiating Before Buildup in Baghdad Slum (Ann Scott Tyson, 5/21/07, Washington Post)

The U.S. military is engaged in delicate negotiations inside Sadr City to clear the way for a gradual push in coming weeks by more American and Iraqi forces into the volatile Shiite enclave of more than 2 million people, one of the most daunting challenges of the campaign to stabilize Baghdad.

So sensitive is the problem of the sprawling slum -- heavily controlled by militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr -- that Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, personally approves all targets for raids inside the Baghdad district, military officers said.

Cleric in Iraq recasts movement to appeal to Sunnis: Populist al-Sadr is also driving out militia extremists who target Sunnis (SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN, 5/21/07, Washington Post)

The movement of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has embarked on one of its most dramatic tactical shifts since the beginning of the war.

The 33-year-old populist is reaching out to a broad array of Sunni leaders, from politicians to insurgents, and purging extremist members of his Mahdi Army militia who target Sunnis.

Al-Sadr's political followers are distancing themselves from the fragile Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which is widely criticized as corrupt, inefficient and biased in favor of Iraq's majority Shiites.

And moderates are taking up key roles in al-Sadr's movement, professing to be less anti-American and more nationalist as they seek to position him in the middle of Iraq's ideological spectrum.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 21, 2007 7:24 AM