I’ve been monitoring the fallout over the Iraqi move on Mookies men, and while it is a mixed bag, I agree with the observations here:
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/iraq/articles/20080406.aspx
The Mahdi army lost 571 killed, 881 wounded, 490 captured, and 30 surrendered, in a week of fighting. While there were defections from a GREEN unit, the rest of the forces held together well.
What is still developing is the presence of Iranian forces directly assisting Mookies forces. Not good news if Iran is trying to play the innocent party in the event of a direct American response.
“Not good news if Iran is trying to play the innocent party...”
I agree with the caveat that Iran hasn’t tried real, real hard to pretend their innocent, in my opinion.