From Captain's Quarters:
A top deputy of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was killed Wednesday during a raid by U.S. and Iraqi troops in the southern holy city of Najaf, sparking protests from Sadr's followers and complicating an already tense relationship with the powerful anti-American leader.
We are nibbling around the edges and watching reactions, I imagine. This appears to be a more cautious version of August 2004, but then Sadr's boys are being far more cautious by not taking on our troops directly to give us an excuse to hit them as they did in 2004.
I still don't know if Sadr is really popular enough to make a direct take down a bad idea or whether Sadr just wants us to think he is too popular (whether or not Sadr believes that himself).
But it is important we answer the question of how popular Sadr is before we decide what to do about him.
