Chaos returning to Iraq

McCain says we're winning the Iraq war, but today it looks as though the tense standoff that's been going on for months now has fallen apart and al Sadr's forces are going to cause the country to fall back into total chaos:

BAGHDAD — Heavy fighting broke out Tuesday in Basra and Baghdad, after Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a major operation in Basra against Shiite militias, including the Mahdi Army, whose months-long cease-fire is credited with reducing the level of violence during the troop surge. There were also serious clashes in the southern cities of Kut and Hilla.

... Mr. Rikabi and other Iraqi officials said they did not know whether or how the unrest in Baghdad was related to the crackdown in Basra. Moktada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric who commands the Mahdi Army and initially called for a suspension of his militia’s activities in August, called on Monday called for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign, beginning in Baghdad, in response to what his followers say is an unwarranted crackdown.