10,000 Iraqi Troops Bring Calm To Sadr City

From The Times Online:

Crouching in the shade under the back of a tank, four Iraqi soldiers stir sugar into small glasses of tea as they take a break from guard duty near a row of battered shops in the heart of Sadr City.

Passers-by throw wary glances at the troops as they come to terms with the new order in Baghdad's Shia slum, a stronghold of al-Mahdi Army militia until only three days ago when thousands of Iraqi forces took control.

The unprecedented attempt to stamp government authority on one of the last remaining no-go areas in Iraq followed seven weeks of fighting between US and Iraqi forces and militiamen that left more than 1,250 people dead and 2,500 wounded. Of the injured, about 600 people have lost at least one limb.

Read more ....

Other News Sources On Sadr City:
Iraqi troops move deeper into Sadr City as US kills eight civilians -- Iraq Updates
Spinning Mookie -- Iraq Pundit
Pentagon Praises Iraqi Troops Performance -- Eagle World News
Obstacle Emplacement in the COIN Fight -- OP-For
Iraqi troops tighten grip on Baghdad Shiite bastion -- AFP

My Comment: With Sadr under Central Government control, there are few if any major areas in Iraq that can harbor Al Qaeda or Shiite extremists. The next stage of this war is to see if this territory can be controlled and maintained with the central government, that security and rebuilding can be maintained.

The fact that this was an Iraqi Army operation gives me cause for hope.

Iraq War News Updates -- May 21, 2008

Summary Of Iraq War News
Iraqi Troops Take Charge of Sadr City in Swift Push -- New York Times
Iraqi troops test truce in cleric stronghold -- Reuters
Iraqi Army presses into Sadr City -- Long War Journal
Has Maliki Conquered Sadr City? -- Time Magazine
Operation in Sadr City Is an Iraqi Success, So Far -- New York Times
US says its troops kill 11 militants in Baghdad -- Breitbart
Cleansing Mosul Of al-Qaeda -- Strata-Sphere
Thousands of former Army personnel to return to service in Mosul -- Iraq Updates
Tariq Aziz stays defiant in face of trial for his life -- Times Online
Sadr Is Finished -- Belmont Club
White House Challenges NBC News to Explain Whether Iraq Is in 'Civil War' -- FOX News
Success in Iraq: A Media Blackout -- New York Post
What Happened In Basra When The Militants Were in Control -- CNN
Now Come The Horror Stories Of Mahdi Army Atrocities -- Strata-Sphere
U.S. Deploys a Purpose-Driven Distinction -- Washington Post
Iraqi forces to fully control security by year-end -- Kuwait News Agency

My Comment: The success of the Iraqi Army in both Basra and Sadr City are major accomplishments. This was not expected ..... at least if you read the main stream media. The true test will be to maintain control and to start to rebuild these areas of Iraq. The goal will now expand from security to providing jobs and the prospect of hope to its citizens. Terrorism and car bomb attacks, vendettas and revenge killings, these acts will still continue .... but these is now a small glimmer of hope.

I am now going to make a prediction ...... with its oil wealth, the assistance of the U.S., and a people determined not to fall sway to dictatorship or religious extremism .... I give the people of Iraq a good chance to come out of this better than where they have been for the past few decades.