[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Have we got a new trend,.,,,,for news about what is really happening in Iraq...?

We need analysis Help here!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

H/T to the Long War Journal sidebar for pointing to this.

[Vigilanteman]

For every neighborhood which decorates their lamp posts with a Mahdi militiaman, we should bring in a nice catered chicken barbeque with useful handouts like a box of laundry soap or bottle of cooking oil for everyone who attends the celebration.

I bet it wouldn't be too long before more Mahdi militiamen were decorating the lamp posts.

[Billthedrill]

"Everyone is trying to claw their way to the top," said Olson, comparing it to Robin Hood turning into Tony Soprano.

Robin Hood had better press agents.

Better outfits too.

[Allegra]

Lami is no fan of U.S. troops, but after fleeing Baghdad's Sadr City district with his family last month, when militiamen arrived on his street to plant a bomb, he is no fan of the Mahdi Army either. Nor are many others living in Sadr City, the 32-year-old said. Weeks of fighting between militiamen and Iraqi and U.S. forces, with residents caught in the middle, has chipped away at the Sadr movement's grass-roots popularity, Lami said.

Exactly what needed to happen.

It started happening a few months ago. The media can't conceal the progress anymore. It has become too powerful.

[PsyOp]

"They used to come and take money on a monthly basis from us," he said, speaking for himself and other local merchants. He said the militiamen would demand to know the details of their businesses, whether their customers were Sunnis, Shiites or Americans, and whom they employed.

In short, the mahdi army is no more than a mafia run by Sadr as the head mafioso. Just another protection racket. Don't pay and your shop goes up in flames with blame put on evil Sunnis, Americans, etc.