Apparently, Maliki considered his recent crackdown in Basra was such a rousing success he wants more of the same! This time Maliki specifically targets Sadr City, Shuala, and Ameriyah.

"I expect more crackdowns like this. We do not negotiate with outlaws," the premier told a news conference at his office in the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone.

"The coming days will witness more assaults as people are still in the control of gangs," he said, naming areas such as Shuala, Sadr City and Ameriyah in Baghdad as possible targets of new assaults.

Now lets take a first hand look at what happened in Basra. Here's a memorable quote...

Iraqi forces started their assault on the Shiite militias in Basra on Tuesday. Whatever the initial goal of the operation, by the time I arrived in Basra it was a patchwork of neighborhoods that were either deserted or overrun by Mahdi fighters. There were scattered Iraqi Army and police checkpoints, but no place seemed to be truly under government control.

Hmmm... ...deserted or overrun by Mahdi fighters. Heckuva Job, Brownie err... Maliki! Remember that Shrub called the action by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "a bold decision." He further added: "I would say this is a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq." Right...! I'd agree it is a defining moment in Iraq, but, in ways not intended by Shrub. As Robert Dreyfuss wrote in The Nation:

Maliki, miscalculating badly, flew to Basra last week from Baghdad to personally oversee the assault on Sadr's forces. In so doing, he staked his prestige on the offensive. If indeed it has failed, Maliki has lost face. That the ceasefire ending the fighting was worked out in Qom, Iran, and mediated by Tehran, is doubly embarrassing for him.

But it's far worse for the United States. President Bush strongly backed Maliki since the Battle of Basra started. According to Steve Hadley, the president's national security adviser, the decision to act in Basra was taken jointly between Washington and Baghdad. And U.S. air power and even some ground units supported the floundering Iraqi forces, whose weakness and incompetence were revealed for all to see. After five years of massive U.S. training and equipment, the Iraqi armed forces weren't even able to take control of Iraq's second-largest city.

Adding to Bush's utter humiliation, the Iranian-negotiated truce was mediated by the commander of the so-called Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani, who brought Sadr's representatives together with Hadi al-Ameri, the Badr Corps commander and the leading aide to Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the ISCI leader. The Quds Force, you will recall, was only last year designated as a "terrorist" entity by the U.S. government. So President Bush's "defining moment" is this: the head of an Iranian "terrorist" force has brokered a deal between the two leading Shiite parties in Iraq, Sadr's movement and ISCI.

Smells like victory to me! Let's bring it closer to the GZG and Sadr's namesake City... Had enough...?