Maliki is setting the stage for the continuation of the campaign by getting support within Iraq:
The emergence of a common cause could help bridge Iraq's political rifts.
The head of the Kurdish self-ruled region, Massoud Barzani, has offered Kurdish troops to help fight anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.
More significantly, Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi signed off on a statement by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and the Shiite vice president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, expressing support for the crackdown in the oil-rich southern city of Basra.
Al-Hashemi is one of al-Maliki's most bitter critics and the two have been locked in an acrimonious public quarrel for a year. Al-Hashemi has accused the prime minister of sectarian favoritism and al-Maliki has complained that the Sunni vice president is blocking key legislation.
I did mention that many Iraqis could rally to oppose Iranian-backed Shia thugs. And the support is being couched in terms that will support more government efforts against Sadr:
Iraq's political leadership on Saturday called on all parties to disband their militias before provincial elections this year, an apparent attempt to isolate the populist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The political council of national security, which comprises the president, the prime minister and the heads of political blocs in parliament, issued a 15-point statement at a late night news conference in Baghdad.
I know the conventional wisdom is that Maliki lost the fight with Sadr and that Maliki has been weakened, but this show of support across Iraq for actions against Sadr clearly show that the conventional wisdom is wrong.
UPDATE: More on the progress on uniting various Iraqi factions against the Sadrists and their Iranian backer. Yet our press is still in their herd mentality peddling the Maliki lost. It's almost as if our reporters don't have a clue, eh? I look forward to their explanations of why Iraqi support for Maliki really means he lost Round Three.
