[hershey]

Early this am, NPR said it was Sadr's deputy who was arrested. His bodyguards were going to fight, but saw the US soldiers and gave up. I wish they'd stop using law and order terminology. This is war, not cops and robbers. Just because Clintonites use 'arrest' all the time, that doesn't mean the Bush admin. has to follow suit.

[elbucko]

This is war, not cops and robbers. Just because Clintonites use 'arrest' all the time,...

Good point. "Captured" is the proper word in this context.

[saquin]

"... was Sadr's deputy who was arrested. His bodyguards were going to fight, but saw the US soldiers and gave up."

I know the Arab press is screeching about a "Fallujah massacre" but, if you ask me, we were starting to look too soft. All these groups in Iraq were starting to see U.S. troops as easy targets and pushovers. We showed, in Fallujah, that we mean business (and I hope we're not done there).

This is what one of the Iraqi bloggers (who has been saying for months that we should surround Fallujah and pacify those areas) said yesterday:

"You are going to be amazed what a little bit of firmness can produce."
"Once everybody understand that the U.S. is not going to be shaken, and they are watching the polls anxiously, and that she will stop at nothing to achieve her goals, and can be ruthless, you will start seeing results."
"As far as the Mehdi Army and Al Sadr are concerned, you will soon see how this soap bubble explodes harmlessly into thin air."

The Mesopotamian