Have the gloves really come of at last?

Mahdi Army Leaders Arrested 
Ed Morrissey

Over the last few weeks, the Iraqi government has quietly rounded up some of the senior leadership of the Mahdi Army in preparation for the tactical shift by the US military. The arrests give hope that the Iraqi government may actually use this opportunity to separate itself from the radical Shi'ites that have influenced its operations, including Moqtada al-Sadr:

Facing intense pressure from the Bush administration to show progress in securing Iraq, senior Iraqi officials announced Wednesday that they had moved against the country’s most powerful Shiite militia, arresting several dozen senior members in the past few weeks.

It was the first time the Shiite government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had claimed significant action against the militia, the Mahdi Army, one of the most intractable problems facing his administration. The militia’s leader, the cleric Moktada al-Sadr, helped put Mr. Maliki in power, but pressure to crack down on the group has mounted as its killings in the capital have driven a wedge into efforts to keep the country together. ...

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Rusty has more here.

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See also: Re: More Promising News

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Mahdi Army expressing siege mentality

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Mahdi Army fighters said Thursday they were under siege in their Sadr City stronghold as U.S. and Iraqi troops killed or seized key commanders in pinpoint nighttime raids. Two commanders of the Shiite militia said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has stopped protecting the group under pressure from Washington and threats from Sunni Muslim Arab governments.

The two commanders' account of a growing siege mentality inside the organization could represent a tactical and propaganda feint, but there was mounting evidence the militia was increasingly off balance and had ordered its gunmen to melt back into the population. To avoid capture, commanders report no longer using cell phones and fighters are removing their black uniforms and hiding their weapons during the day.

During much of his nearly eight months in office, al-Maliki has blocked or ordered an end to many U.S.-led operations against the Mahdi Army, which is run by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the prime minister's key political backer.

As recently as Oct. 31, al-Maliki, trying to capitalize on American voter discontent with the war and White House reluctance to open a public fight with the Iraqi leader just before the election, won U.S. agreement to lift military blockades on Sadr City and another Shiite enclave where an American soldier was abducted.

But al-Maliki reportedly had a change of heart in late November while going into a meeting in Jordan with President Bush. It has since been disclosed that the Iraqi leader's vision for a new security plan for Baghdad, to which Bush has committed 17,500 additional U.S. troops, was outlined in that meeting.

Al-Maliki is said by aides to have told Bush that he wanted the Iraqi army and police to be in the lead, but he would no longer interfere to prevent U.S. attempts to roll up the Mahdi Army. ...

*** Update and bump. Original timestamp 2007.01.18.11:31

Muqtada Al-Sadr Aide Arrested in Baghdad
(AP. Hat tip: Michelle)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested a top aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday in Baghdad, an official in his office said.

Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, al-Sadr's media director in Baghdad, was captured in the eastern neighborhood of Baladiyat, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.  ...

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Mahdi Army Under 'Siege'
Ed Morrissey

The new operation to clean up Baghdad seems to have taken the Mahdi Army by surprise. Mahdi Army leaders tell the AP that even in their Sadr City base they have begun to feel under siege, hiding their uniforms and ending operations to avoid detection

[...]

So what changed? The Bush administration made it clear to Nouri al-Maliki that he was not going to take 'no' for an answer this time when it came to breaking the Mahdis. Maliki agreed to the new strategy in Jordan a few weeks ago, and promised that he would not block the mission against Moqtada al-Sadr's forces. The Sadrites knew that this offense was coming -- after all, we could hardly have telegraphed this punch any more clearly -- but they did not count on losing their political cover. They also appear to have severely underestimated American intel capability, which has them reeling.

One other dynamic may be at play. Sadr himself, knowing what was about to happen, apparently conducted a purge of his leadership. This is destructive to unit cohesion under the best of circumstances; Stalin crippled his army in the years leading up to World War II after Hitler manipulated Stalin into believing his officer corps was significantly disloyal. Sadr conducted his purge at the same time he was shifting forces around Iraq, making the communications problems even worse than they would have been without the purge. ...

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Iraqi, U.S. forces arrest aide to cleric al-Sadr

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- In an overnight raid, Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops captured a top aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in eastern Baghdad, the militia's spokesman told CNN Friday.

The spokesman said Sheikh Abdul al-Hadi Darraji -- the director of Sadr's main offices in Sadr City -- was arrested at a mosque in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Belediyat, just outside Sadr City.

Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia is part of a politically powerful Shiite movement thought to be in the middle of the Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence in Iraq.

A U.S. military statement Friday did not name Darraji specifically but did announce U.S. and Iraqi forces had arrested a "high-level, illegal armed group leader" blamed for kidnapping, torturing and killing Iraqi civilians while heading an "illegal armed group punishment committee."

In addition, the "armed group leader" is suspected of working with "death squad commanders" and armed group cells that practice sectarian revenge killings in Baghdad.

The military also announced the arrest of two "suspects" during the operation for later questioning.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Wednesday that security forces in recent days cracked down on the Mehdi Army. He said 400 arrests were made.

Al-Maliki has been seen as reluctant to take on the Mehdi Army because support from al-Sadr helped him become prime minister. ...

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The Mouth Of Sadr Arrested
Ed Morrissey

The new offensive against Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army continues to creep ever closer to the center of the problem. This morning, US and Iraqi troops arrested his media director and killed the man guarding him, effectively removing Sadr's propagandist from the fight:

U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested one of Muqtada al-Sadr's top aides Friday in Baghdad, his office said, as pressure increases on the radical Shiite cleric's militia ahead of a planned security sweep aimed at stemming the sectarian violence ransacking the capital.

Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, al-Sadr's media director in Baghdad, was captured Friday and his personal guard was killed, according to another senior al-Sadr aide.

The US believes that Darraji does more for Sadr than just schedule television appearances. While they did not refer to Darraji by name, they noted that the main suspect detained has involvement with death squads. One of those affiliated with Darraji may be Abu Diraa, a particularly notorious and brutal death squad commander in Baghdad -- and that might have been the reason they snatched Darraji. His central position in the organization would mean he possesses information that would be very attractive to American intel units.

Another interesting point about Darraji's arrest is where it took place. The troops raided a mosque in Baghdad to get him, which may show that initial reluctance to enter the worship sites has faded. This might be the best indicator of how seriously the Americans and Iraqis take this mission. They're not out to win hearts and minds with this phase of the new strategy, but to find and destroy the enemy. This is reminiscent of the action taken in 2004 against the Mahdis, before Sadr wisely capitulated in return for his freedom. ...

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Sadr On The Run
Posted by Curt 

Starting to look like those who put on the sad face when the details of the surge became known, specifically those on the right side of the aisle (the left always have a frown when it comes to Iraq, hating victory can do that to a person), may be turning that frown into a smile.  Sadr's minions appear to be on the run, for good reason:

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Add one more to the list of those captured with this high-level Sadr aide:

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But let me point out a couple things about this article:

The midlevel Mahdi Army commanders, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the group operates in secret, said...

Now isn't that special.  Two high level commanders of a group which has terrorized and killed many innocent people are kept anonymous by our one and only AP.

And then this: ...

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Iraqis crack down on al-Sadr; on Iranians, not so much
Allahpundit

They arrested one of the fat man’s top aides this morning. He’s on the run, or so he says. I want to believe but this rings false:

In an interview with Mr Sadr, published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica today, the cleric said 400 of his men had already been arrested.

“For this reason, I have moved my family to a secure location. I even have had a will drawn up, and I move continuously in a way that only few can know where I am,” he was quoted as saying.

“But even if I were to die, Mahdi would continue to exist. Men can be killed. Faith and ideas cannot,” he said.

Mr Sadr said his men would not fight during the Islamic month of Muharram, which marks the death of Muhammad’s grandson Hussein, but that afterwards “we’ll see”.

For Islamist blather, that’s awfully light on bravado and heavy on apprehension. Not something you’d expect within a strong horse/weak horse paradigm unless he has good reason for wanting to communicate weakness right now … like feigning quiescence to encourage the U.S. to declare victory and start withdrawing sooner. It’s a hudna, in other words, and like all hudnas, it’s just a temporary tactical measure designed to lull the enemy while you figure out how to win. He wins here by doing two very simple things: being patient and not fighting.

Now that we’ve got his aide, will we hold him? There was probably some pressure to make a major arrest with Gates in the neighborhood, and judging by how the Iraqi government has responded to the seizure of the Iranian “diplomats” in Irbil, there’ll probably be some pressure in a few weeks to let him go. And speaking of those “diplomats,” the Iraqis still want them released — except that there’s one little catch:

The raids have deeply embarrassed Iraqi officials, who say that the United States did not consult with them before it detained the Iranians, who were properly accredited visitors to this country. At the same time, Iraqi officials have been put in an awkward position by their neighbor, as the Iraqis concede that at least some of the Iranians appear to have been working with Shiite militias, just as the Americans claimed. ...

Read the whole thing. It gets better.