يا سيدي أنا اللي آسف.... ولكنني أرفض أن كتبت تحليلاً أن أتهم بالميل لهذا أو ذاك.... فأنا لست مسروراً لا بالطرف الأول ولا بالثاني، ولم آخذ موقفاً لثقتي أن الخوض في هذا طويل ومضني.

سأعود لرد أوسع وأدق على تعليقاتك، وفي الانتظار إليك مقالة أمريكية تتحدث عن زيادة سلطة الصدر بعد هذه الأحداث :

Iraq showdown made Sadr stronger, backers say

Militia members melt back into the background after the cleric's order to lay down their weapons.
By Ned Parker and Raheem Salman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

April 1, 2008

BAGHDAD -- In a stucco compound at the center of the Sadr City neighborhood here, a follower of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr gleefully handed out candies and toffees to visitors Monday.


Nearly a week after Maliki's security forces began fighting what amounted to a draw with Sadr's Mahdi Army militia on the streets of the southern port of Basra and in Iraq's capital, armed militia members had melted into the background both in Basra and the cleric's longtime Baghdad stronghold.

But the signs of battle remained: burned tires, charred pavement, bomb and rocket craters on the streets of this Shiite slum, as hundreds walked and shopped under murals and ads festooned with the anti-American cleric's image.

Loudspeakers, meanwhile, blared praise for Sadr, who supporters say is stronger than ever after ordering his followers to lay down their weapons Sunday while demanding that the government stop its attacks and release followers of his who were detained.

Iraqi security sources said 116 people had been killed in Sadr City and 250 in Basra since the turmoil erupted last Tuesday. The increased bloodshed brought the Iraqi death toll for March to 1,079 people, according to the Health and Interior ministries. March has been the worst month for Iraqi fatalities since August, when 1,860 were killed.

The U.S. Army also announced the deaths of two American troops, one of them wounded in a bomb blast last week and the other killed in a bombing Monday in northeast Baghdad.

The resilience of the Mahdi Army militia appears to have surprised Maliki, who said his offensive was meant to crush lawless elements in Basra. Top Iraqi commanders acknowledged Monday that they had been taken aback.

"The presence of the armed men [in the street] made this operation become bigger than it was," said Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Mohammed Jassim, operations commander for Iraq's Defense Ministry.

On the edge of Sadr City, where a vehicle ban was still being enforced, an Iraqi army officer stared at a giant mural of Sadr's father, a grand ayatollah who died under the regime of Saddam Hussein and the man for whom the Baghdad district is named. "We need 100 years to be a strong military," the officer said.

As an explosion sounded in the distance, the Iraqi officer said the Mahdi Army had better weapons than the government soldiers did, including rocket-propelled grenades and newer machine guns. He acknowledged that some policemen from Sadr City were active members of the militia and that others had offered their tacit support. As a result, the Iraqi army had to rely on the U.S. military to push back the militia in the district of 2.5 million people, the officer said as a U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle swiveled its cannon at shoppers passing by the entrance to the neighborhood.

Inside Sadr City, a policeman navigated the roads, which had been booby-trapped with bombs in case the Americans tried to enter. He said the militia planted the explosives at night and detonated them by remote control. But he wasn't worried.

He pointed to an area where he said a U.S. armored vehicle had burned, sending flames into a police station and market. "When they see a police car coming, they don't detonate the explosive because they don't see police as targets," the officer said.

At Sadr's compound, in a room decorated with plastic flowers, Sheik Salman Freiji, head of the Sadr organization in east Baghdad, called on parliament to force Maliki to resign. He also warned that although the Sadrists were now observing a cease-fire, it was still legitimate to fight the Americans.

"The military operations against the occupation forces in Iraq will continue until the last soldier of the occupation leaves Iraq," Freiji said.

Others at the compound compared Maliki to the late Hussein, criticizing the prime minister for targeting the Mahdi Army and not other groups in the oil-rich port of Basra.

But backing for the Mahdi Army was not unanimous on the streets of Sadr City. Some residents voiced exasperation over the violence.

Abu Salah, 55, sold fruit on the curb as traffic passed, including minibuses with coffins strapped to their roofs.

"I don't remember a period in which we lived quietly without problems," he said. "Indeed, I blame everyone. Just look, these actions are bad for us."

A man who refused to give his name said people were growing tired but were too afraid to challenge Sadr's militia.