"Teribus-- "Those in command...."--so sorry to break it to you-- Sadr's "army", SCIRI, etc. are not the Royal Navy. You're going to have to make the effort to break out of your West European military mindset if you hope to understand anything about the Iraq situation."

Well Ron, maybe you can explain to us all who it was stopped the fighting around Najaf in 2004 when the troops of the MNF confronted the Mahdi Army of Al-Sadr. Can you also explain to us why it was that Al-Sadr waited until the Senior Shiite Cleric Al-Sistani was out of the country before he launched his attack on the MNF. Tyhen tell us what happened immediately upon Al-Sistani's return. Tell us what the Mahdi Army has done since - in relation to the Government of Iraq, and the MNF, they've bloody well behaved themselves.