Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has given instructions to ban the interference or presence of any unofficial people at state-run and private gas stations, refineries and oil distribution centers, according to a government statement.
"Anyone who interferes in the supply, pricing and working hours mechanisms or who charges money will be subjected to law," the statement said.
It is widely believed that gas stations and distribution centers, especially in eastern Baghdad and some Iraqi southern provinces, are covertly controlled by Shiite militiamen dominated by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
And the citizens of Basra don't seem upset that government troops are pressuring the Sadr thugs:
The fierce fighting which marked the first week of Operation Sawlat al-Fursan (Charge of the Knights) has given way to slower, more focused house-by-house searches by Iraqi troops, which led on Monday to the freeing of an abducted British journalist.
Residents say the streets have been cleared of gunmen, markets have reopened, basic services have been resumed and a measure of normality has returned to the oil-rich city.
The port of Umm Qasr is in the hands of the Iraqi forces who wrested control of the facility from Shiite militiamen, and according to the British military it is operational once again.
This is a long campaign. But it continues to put pressure on Sadr and the Persian goons who stand side-by-side.
