Uh, guys... you sure you want to do this?

Troops Seize More Than a Dozen Suspects in Raid on Baghdad's Sadr City
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 8, 2008
BAGHDAD, Feb. 7 -- U.S. and Iraqi soldiers raided the Shiite district of Sadr City on Thursday and arrested 16 people. The U.S. military said later that one detainee died from wounds received during the operation.

Is this such a good idea?

The reason I ask is that, well... one of the reasons the surge seems to be "working" is that "influential Shi'ite cleric" Moqtada al-Sadr has been keeping his Mahdi Army under control, having declared a formal cease-fire last August. Do you really want to upset him & his followers?

Sadr tells militia to maintain Iraq ceasefire
By Aseel Kami, Reuters
Thu Feb 7, 2008
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his feared Mehdi Army on Thursday to maintain its six-month ceasefire as members of the militia clashed with U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad.

Shi'ite Sadr's spokesman Salah al-Ubaidi said the ceasefire, which expires later this month and has been vital to cutting violence in Iraq, should continue to be observed until militia members are told it is over or has been renewed.

But strains are showing among al-Sadr's followers...

Some members of Sadr's bloc are pressuring him not to extend the August 29 freeze on the Mehdi Army's activities.
...
A new report by the International Crisis Group think-tank said the respite offered by the ceasefire was "exceedingly frail" and that Sadrists -- many of whom complain they are targeted by security forces -- remain extremely powerful.

"Among Sadrist rank and file, impatience with the ceasefire is high and growing," the report said.

Again: is it really such a good idea for the U.S. Army to be conducting raids in Sadr City, the Mahdi Army's backyard?

Stop the madness!