Coalition Steps Up Attacks on Sadr Forces

The Fourth Rail:  'The return of Muqtada al Sadr from his four months of self imposed exile in Iran has led to a spike in activity against his political leadership and the extremist elements of his fractured Mahdi Army. Over the past few days, U.S. and Iraqi forces have conducted multiple operations in Sadr City, and over the past 24 hours, killed 4 Mahdi fighters and captured 6 after attacking a rocket team in the northeastern district.  On Saturday and Sunday, U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted air and ground operations against Mahdi Army “rocket” teams targeting the Green Zone (or International Zone). Apache Longbow attack helicopters from the 1st “Attack” Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division killed 4 Mahdi fighters and destroyed 10 rockets and 1 truck. The air attack was followed up by a ground raid by soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Six Mahdi fighters were captured in “a residence inside Sadr City.” Reuters reported the engagement occurred in the neighborhood of Habibibya, which U.S. forces cordoned.'  Full details at the post.

Remarks.  After Muqty's hasty departure, The Belmont Club predicted (and I noted here) that "he must eventually find a way to return to Iraq on his own terms, either reconciling with the US or driving them or waiting them out."  Seemingly he did return on "his own terms", as The Fourth Rail reported on May 25:

Sadr is believed to have slipped back into Iraq one week ago. While Sadr's spokesmen have long claimed Sadr never left Iraq, the pretense has now been dropped.

Sadr spoke to over 6,000 followers at a in mosque Kufa, and he railed against the U.S. presence in Iraq. "No, no for Satan. No, no for America. No, no for the occupation. No, no for Israel," Sadr chanted at the opening of his sermon. "We demand the withdrawal of the occupation forces, or the creation of a timetable for such a withdrawal... I call upon the Iraqi government not to extend the occupation even for a single day."

                                                                                                                                             

But the same post also noted that the Coalition had arranged a welcome-home present for Muqty:

Coalition forces responded to Sadr's return by killing a senior leader of the Mahdi Army in the southern city of Basra. "Wissam al-Waili, 23, also known as Abu Qader, was shot and killed along with his brother and two aides during the battle Friday afternoon," the Associated Press reported.

The strategy seems to be to make Muqtada al-Sadr's presence in Iraq dangerous to his followers.

IraqPundit takes on the New York Times' Bartle Breese Bull, and offers a few other bits of information:

Why has Mokty returned now? Some speculate that it is because Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, the leader of the leader of SIIC (formerly SCIRI, Iraq's most powerful Shiite group), is ill with lung cancer. Moktada may see this as an opening to move in and become the one and only Shiite leader of Iraq. Furthermore, some Arabic-language newspapers have reported that the son of Abdul Aziz, Ammar Al Hakim, has been chosen to replace his father as SIIC leader. If those stories are accurate, then SIIC is in for real problems. Iraqis call the son 'Uday Al Hakim,' because some of Ammar’s behavior calls to mind Saddam’s psychotic eldest son, Uday.

But whoever advises Mokty may have jumped the gun. The same for those newspapers who declared Abdul Aziz Al Hakim to be dying (or even dead). IraqSlogger.com has a story that says Abdul Aziz Al Hakim has a treatable condition, and has also returned to Iraq.

Whatever Moktada’s motivation for his return to Iraq, that decision was surely not his. Someone has long been pulling the strings of this wooden-headed, would-be "cleric."

Go to the post for a YouTube link, and the rest of the analysis.