Iraqi PM's Choices

No doubts, the Iraqi PM Malaki has some hard decisions to make.

Mr Maliki's criticism followed a predawn air and ground attack in Sadr City, the stronghold of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army. Police said three people, including a woman and a child, were killed in the raid, which the US command said was aimed at "individuals involved in punishment and torture cell activities".

Three people were captured in the raid, the US military said.

Mr Maliki, a Shiite, said he was "very angered and pained" by the operation, warning that it could undermine his efforts towards national reconciliation.

"Reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way," Mr Maliki said."This operation used weapons that are unreasonable to detain someone - like using planes."

Of course, reconciliation is going to be damn difficult if your country falls completely off the edge into civil war. I understand fully that he has to play on the politics that he will have to live with, and then he has to realize that the US military doesn't want to be throwing soldiers and marines into a meat grinder when a couple of smart-bombs will do the job just as effectively. Not to mention that an all out firefight may have as much collateral damage as a smart-bomb.

The President, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, also met the top US commander in Iraq, George Casey, to discuss security. "It is in no one's interest to have a confrontation" with Mr Sadr's movement, Mr Talabani was said to have told General Casey.

The public position taken by Mr Maliki and Mr Talabani showed serious differences between Iraqi politicians and US and Iraqi military officials on how to restore order and deal with armed groups, many of which have links to political parties.

OK. That's a bit intriguing. So Sadr isn't really a threat? Or is he too much of a threat for the government? You'd think that cleaning out the militias would be a smart idea for stabilizing Baghdad.

These guys are starting on a course that is indeed complicated. They may want to consider their course very carefully before they find that the muscle that the US is providing is driving home and they are left with a bunch of militias killing each other and escalating.