HAS AL SADR FINALLY BEEN TAMED?

Yesterday - in a post nobody seemed to notice - I related the fact that US forces had arrested a few of al Sadr's top aides, and I expressed my hope that this was the beginning of the LONG overdue get tough program.

GATEWAY PUNDIT reports news from Iraq which might indicate this new "get tough" program is already paying off; from AZZAMAN - in Iraq:

The Shiite radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr seems to be willing to compromise and is urging his followers not to use force in opposing the Iraqi government and the presence of U.S. troops. ... Sadr said his call for comprise and civil resistance was for the sake of sparing Iraqi blood.

This might be another important turning point for the Iraqi government and for Iraqi civil life. If they can get al Sadr's Brigades to chill out, then maybe they can get the sectarian violence to end and civi order restored. Remember, this deal with al Sadr comes on the heels last month's deal in which 85% of the Sunni tribal leaders annouced they would stop aiding the insurgency. And we are still killing al Qaeda bighshots in Iraq, too. SO.... I'd say current indications are that things in Iraq are finally going very VERY WELL. (Once we smash the jihadoterror-sponsoring states on Iraq's borders - Iran and Syria - things will be going GRRRRRRREAT!)