Devil his due

High praise for an unlikely recipient:

Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, said Thursday he applauds Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for helping, through a cease-fire, to reduce violent attacks in Iraq by 60 percent since June. It was unusual praise by a U.S. official for a relentless critic of the American role here.

In striking contrast to the U.S. military’s previous wariness — if not hostility — toward the young firebrand cleric, Petraeus praised Sadr personally for “working to rid his movement of criminal elements” and making a “pledge of honor” to uphold the cease-fire announced in August. He said the United States is in indirect dialogue with “senior members” of Sadr’s organization to maintain the cease-fire.

“The Sadr trend stands for service to the people,” and the goal is for Sadr and his followers to become “constructive partners in the way ahead,” Petraeus said in an interview with defense reporters traveling with Gates.

For his own part, Iraqi cleric responded with his customary grace and tact:

“I speak to the head of evil Bush, go out of our land, we don’t need you or your armies, the armies of darkness, your aircrafts, tanks… your fake freedom,” said a statement issued under Sadr’s name two days ago.

“The head of evil Bush,” eh?

Must sound better in the native.

Lots of facets to this particular stone. Last fall the Maliki government tacitly authorized coalition forces to go after the leadership of rogue elements within the Jaish al Mahdi – Sadr’s militia – after having initially opposed such moves against one of his own power bases. The rise of the Anbar “Awakening” movement reduced the tempo of ops in the west, even as surge forces successfully squeezed Sunni insurgents out of Baghdad’s neighborhood and surrounding belt cities. The combination of these two events enabled coalition forces to shift fires to the Shia enemy in their rear. Moqtada Sadr began to wonder about those laser dots glowing on his chest and bugged out to Iran. While taking in the waters there he began to lose even more control of elements ostensibly pledged to him. A nasty little intramural contest between Sadrist elements and security forces in the city of Najaf killed over 50 people in August, while wounding over 300.

Which, from a public relations perspective? Disaster.

Sadr will never be an especial fan of the US or coalition forces Iraq. But so long as he remains just one more angry crank with bad teeth and a political party, the laser dots will stay off him.