Target: Moqtada al-Sadr

What did President Bush mean last night when he said this? In earlier operations, political and sectarian interference prevented Iraqi and American forces from going into neighborhoods that are home to those fueling the sectarian violence. This time, Iraqi and American forces will have a green light to enter these neighborhoods ­ and Prime Minister ...

604916_mahdi_militiaman_05.jpg
604916_mahdi_militiaman_05.jpg

What did President Bush mean last night when he said this?

What did President Bush mean last night when he said this?

In earlier operations, political and sectarian interference prevented Iraqi and American forces from going into neighborhoods that are home to those fueling the sectarian violence. This time, Iraqi and American forces will have a green light to enter these neighborhoods ­ and Prime Minister Maliki has pledged that political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated.



QASSEM ZAIM/Getty Images

Bush didn’t say so explicitly, but it’s actually pretty clear who he’s talking about: Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

In an announcement that must have been timed to coincide with Bush’s speech, Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki pointedly warned the Mahdi Army to disarm or face a U.S. attack. Juan Cole sees this message as “code,” in effect. “He is telling the Sadrists to lie low while the US mops up the Sunni Arab guerrillas,” writes Cole. Since Sadr’s militia is just the armed wing of a much broader movement, it’ll be easy to rearm once the Americans leave or back off. We’ll have to see how the mercurial Sadr reacts, but keep this in mind: The Sadrists have become powerful enough to basically run Saddam’s execution. How is Maliki supposed to stop them now?

One more thing. Will Maliki really send the three Kurdish brigades (“not peshmerga“) that are coming to Baghdad as part of the new plan into Sadr City to fight the Mahdi Army? Tell me how that move doesn’t end in generalized ethnic war.

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.