Chest Pounding and Flinging Poo

Moqtada al-Sadr issued another threat of an uprising. Although this kind of threat gets Western journalists to soil their armor, Sadr didn't let that threat hang in the air long enough to earn him a faster thumping by the Iraqi forces already going after his thugs:

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for an end to clashes between his militia fighters and Iraqi troops, saying Friday that his threat of an "open war" applied only to U.S.-led foreign forces.

In a sermon read by an aide during Friday prayers in Baghdad's militia stronghold of Sadr City, the cleric also urged Iraqi soldiers and policemen "not to support the occupiers in combating your brothers."

Al-Sadr issued a "final warning" to the government Saturday to halt its crackdown against the Mahdi Army or face an "open war until liberation."

Amazingly, the author of the article explaining how Sadr is backing down from his call to revolt also insists at this late date that the Sadrists fought the Iraqi troops to a standstill a month ago in Basra.

I swear to God, when reporters cover Sadr's funeral one day (hopefully soon), they'll discuss the deep nature of Sadr's plans to take over Iraq and that Sadr is merely quietly biding his time and not rotting away at all regardless of what you see before you.