Between a rock and a hard place

It's beginning to look as though al-Maliki is starting to crack down on the al-Sadr crowd, just as Bush asked him to do.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested one of Muqtada al-Sadr's top aides Friday in Baghdad, his office said, as pressure increased on the radical Shiite cleric's militia ahead of a planned security crackdown in the capital.

Al-Sadr said in an interview with an Italian newspaper published Friday that the crackdown had already begun and that 400 of his men had been arrested. La Repubblica also quoted him as saying he fears for his life and stays constantly on the move.

Frankly, I don't really know whether this is a good thing or not. Yes, the Iraqis need to stop the excesses by both sides (Sunnis and Shi'a) if they ever want things to settle down, but can this government survive if it loses its Shi'a backers? I'm inclined to doubt it. And, Juan Cole says he thinks this will lead to real problems in the Shi'a south.

That's one of the problems we face in Iraq now that Bush has so royally screwed it up. We're between a rock and a hard place.