Mookie's boys

Michael J. Totten has a new post up called Balance of Terror over at his site. It gives you some insight into Muqtada al Sadr and his people.

• BAGHDAD – The American soldier sitting next to me flipped open his Zippo lighter and gloomily lit a cigarette. “Do you know why this base isn’t attacked by insurgents?” he said.

  I assumed it was because his area of operations, in the Graya’at neighborhood of northern Baghdad out of Coalition Outpost War Eagle, had been cleared of insurgents. Many American military bases and outposts in Iraq are attacked by Al Qaeda terrorists and Mahdi Army militiamen with mortars and rockets. War Eagle was quiet and had not been bombarded for months.

  “We aren’t being attacked because the Mahdi Army is in the next building,” he said. “They don’t want to hit their own people.”

Many of us have wondered why 'ol Mookie hasn't been taken out yet and Michael provides us with some needed insight. Also, you'll see why Sadr city has been pretty much off limits to coalition "cordon and sweep" operations.

"It's a long read" warning.