Moqtada!

Remember that one of the "encouraging signs" of this latest troop surge was that Moqtada Al Sadr's militia, the Mehdi Army, was not stepping up to the fight, but rather receding into the slums and allowing our soldiers to do their work without resistance. Admittedly, I never saw this as particularly good news, since a "temporary troop surge" doubly implies that our guys were going to be gone soon enough - an example of the all-dreaded "announcing your plan to the enemy" so that they "lay low and don't fight until we're gone." Because Bush's goal is an Iraq thats stable after we're gone, I never saw how leaving one of the single largest sources of instability unaddressed could possibly be a good thing.

Well, I'm not sure I like the alternative any better. Sadr is now calling for active resistance.

BAGHDAD -- Calling the United States the "great evil," powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr on Sunday ordered his militiamen to redouble their effort to oppose American troops and argued that Iraq's army and police force should join him in defeating "your archenemy."

The cleric's verbal assault came as the U.S. military announced that 10 American soldiers were killed over the weekend, including six Sunday in attacks north and south of Baghdad. At least 69 Iraqis also were killed or found dead across Iraq.

To quote Saddam's state-sanctioned executioners: "MOQTADA! MOQTADA! MOQTADA!"