On March 25, I posted on Sadr’s apparent renunciation of his own ceasefire in Iraq, and in closing posed the following prescient query:

The question is whether this is another case of Sadr’s brinksmanship — threatening to explode the current government if he is not granted greater authority and autonomy in areas which comprise his political base — or a move to open warfare.

It would appear that this was a case of the former — Sadr’s use of brinksmanship and political deftness — as Sadr colluded with an Iranian general and several prominent Iraqi officials, including one from Maliki’s own Dawa party, circling behind the Iraqi Prime Minister’s back, to reach an agreement for a new ceasefire:

Iraqi lawmakers traveled to the Iranian holy city of Qom over the weekend to win the support of the commander of Iran’s Qods brigades in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to order his followers to stop military operations, members of the Iraqi parliament said.

Sadr ordered the halt on Sunday, and his Mahdi Army militia heeded the order in Baghdad, where the Iraqi government announced it would lift a 24-hour curfew starting early Monday in most parts of the capital.

~~~

The backdrop to Sadr’s dramatic statement was a secret trip Friday by Iraqi lawmakers to Qom, Iran’s holy city and headquarters for the Iranian clergy who run the country.

There the Iraqi lawmakers held talks with Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Qods (Jerusalem) brigades of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and signed an agreement with Sadr, which formed the basis of his statement Sunday, members of parliament said.

Ali al Adeeb, a member of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s Dawa party, and Hadi al Ameri, the head of the Badr Organization, the military wing of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, had two aims, lawmakers said: to ask Sadr to stand down his militia and to ask Iranian officials to stop supplying weapons to Shiite militants in Iraq.

Following the negotiations, Sadr ordered his militias to stand down, and issued a nine point statement which included a list of demands. This, after Iraq’s military commenced an operation it for which it was unprepared:

Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Mohammad, chief of military operations, acknowledged that Iraq’s security forces had miscalculated and were unprepared for the reaction they encountered last week to their offensive in Basra. He told a news conference that the security forces had planned to fight criminal gangs, assassins and murderers who had taken control of the city — not the well-armed fighters of Mahdi Army.

The failure of the offensive was seen as a blow to Maliki:

The negotiations with Mr. Sadr were seen as a serious blow for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who had vowed that he would see the Basra campaign through to a military victory and who has been harshly criticized even within his own coalition for the stalled assault.

Last week the Right, upon seeing the latest shitstorm come down in Iraq were determined to find a pony under the mess. Preznit Bush, commenting on Maliki’s tough ultimatum and military move on Basra:

My first reaction to watching the Iraqi government respond forcefully and to make it abundantly clear that — I think the exact — I can’t remember the exact words of the Prime Minister, but “criminal elements” I know were a part of his declaration — would be dealt with. I thought that was a very positive moment in the development of a sovereign nation, that is willing to take on elements that are — you know, that believe they’re beyond the law.

It was a “positive development” for Bush, at least until the Iraqi government backed down from confronting al Sadr, and reached a deal to call off the offensive, brokered by an Iranian general, I guess.

Which calls to mind my other remark last week:

And the other question is whether the Bush Administration has the capacity and judgment to apprehend the difference [ between Sadr's brinksmanship and a move to open warfare. ] Thus far, they’ve demonstrated only a miserable incapacity to assess Sadr’s influence and intentions.

Miserable Incapacity Accomplished, once again.

In Right Blogostan, practiced anti-Cassandra blogger Gun Counter Gomer, with the practiced lunacy of the Neocon war pimp, went really overboard, ecstatic that we had finally reached Mission Accomplished after all, and were witnessing a culmination of all the triumphs of Bush’s nation-building:

The Prime Minister of Iraq is all but publicly daring Muqtada al-Sadr and his Iranian allies to engage Iraqi government forces to determine the future of Iraq, a battle that the Iraq government’s forces would win convincingly.

These are moments of growth for Iraq’s fledgling democracy worth celebrating… providing of course, you want the nation to succeed.

Well, it turns out Iraqi government forces didn’t win, convincingly or otherwise. Rather, Iraqi forces were fought to a standstill in Basra and elsewhere, and Malikis fat was pulled out of the fire when his own government went to Sadr and his Iranian Allies and begged for a way out.

Whether Gomer still sees the fighting in Basra and the Iraqi governments subsequent capitulation as a “moment of growth for Iraq’s fledgling democracy” remains to be seen, because after 6 years of parroting the lies of the Bush adminstration like a good little doggie, he has not deigned to comment on the collapse of the Iraqi government offensive, being too busy calling Barack Obama a “liar” to notice how idiotic events have proven his prognostications.

Over on AmericaBlog, A.J. has a nice summary of Maliki’s less-than-convincing-victory and moment-of-celebratory-triumph:

And regardless of whatever you read about Sadr suing for peace, this absolutely was a humiliation for Maliki. Sadr doesn’t appear to be giving up a single thing, and he never wanted an all-out fight (hence the ceasefire in operation since August). Sadr got to test out his fighters, see who was loyal and who was rogue, and then his forces held their own in the battle — and as we all know by now, if you’re attacking and not winning, you’re losing. Then Iran got fed up with the skirmishing in its sphere of influence and told everybody to shut it down . . . so they did! The agreement to stop major fighting was brokered by Iranians, with Sadrists and members of Maliki’s government essentially undermining him by agreeing to what is essentially a return to the status quo.

So after all the talk of this vital and determinative operation, it looks like the only thing that changes is an increasing intra-Shia rift, a weakened Maliki, and strengthened Sadr and Iran. This huge operation mounted against Sadr, he it doesn’t look like he lost anything. Maliki — and the US — played this badly, and made greater internal violence more likely going forward, and for basically unnecessary (and political, rather than security) reasons.

Hope he got a good buy.

BELLEVUE, Ohio — Police said an Ohio man has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a picnic table.

Police arrested Arthur Price Jr. after an anonymous tipster dropped off three DVDs that reportedly showed Price in the act.

According to NBC Toledo, Ohio, affiliate WNWO-TV, the videos show Price tilting the metal round picnic table on its side and then laying up against it to have sexual intercourse with the table. Afterward, he can then be seen cleaning the table and the deck.

During questioning, he reportedly admitted to having sex with the table. Police said he also admitted to bringing the table inside his home for sex.

Price faces four counts of public indecency. He was freed after posting $20,000 bond, authorities said.

Wait … it was his table, his property, and it wasn’t a living thing … I just don’t get why it’s illegal.

President Dumbshit, today:

“Any government that presumes to represent the majority of people must confront criminal elements or people who think they can live outside the law,” Bush said at the White House.

How he managed to find the time to wedge that statement in between ordering illegal wiretaps, authorizing the torture of prisoners, plotting politically-based prosecutions of Democratic politicians and executing signing statements declaring his immunity to laws passed by Congress, I’ll never know.

Say this three times fast:

Rikki Rockett Arrested for Rape

The drummer for 80s glam band Poison was arrested on a rape warrant issued out of Mississippi as he arrived at LAX after getting off a flight from New Zealand, police said.

Rikki Rockett, 46, was arrested Monday at the airport and booked into the Los Angeles County Jail, according to Los Angeles police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Inmate Information Web site. He was held on a strong-arm rape warrant stemming from Neshoba County, Missisippi, and appears to have been released from L.A. County custody, the Sheriff’s Web site shows. His status today could not be confirmed.

Details about the warrant were not immediately available. Messages left with state police in Mississippi went unanswered.

(note: Not sure how long that link will work. I read the Daily Breeze, but their web site kills links faster than Nirvana killed hair metal.)

Now, kids can get tramp stamps.

Thanks to cockeyed.com — via current — for this one:

In a Sacramento-area Toys R Us, your daughter can emulate mommy’s ugly lower back tattoo for just a few quarters.

Lower back tattoos are 50 cents each, tucked in between the Hannah Montana stickers and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse stickers. You can choose a butterfly, roses, a fairy, or other tasteful designs.

Bring exact change, just like you might use for the cigarette vending machine or that one in the truckstop restroom.

Nice find, cockeyed.com

Weston, Wis. - The mother of an 11-year-old girl who died of untreated diabetes said Wednesday that she did not know her daughter was terminally ill as she prayed for her to get better. Madeline Neumann died Sunday from an undiagnosed and treatable form of diabetes. Her mother, Leilani Neumann, told The Associated Press she never expected her daughter, whom she called Kara, to die. The family believes in the Bible, and it says healing comes from God, but they are not crazy, religious people and they have nothing against doctors, she said. The girl’s father, Dale Neumann, a former police officer, said he has friends who are doctors. He started CPR “as soon as the breath of life left” his daughter’s body, he said. Other family members called 911 to seek emergency help, Leilani Neumann said. “We are remaining strong for our children,” she said. “Only our faith in God is giving us strength at this time.”

SYDNEY — A New Zealand man has been sentenced to community service after telling police he was raped by a wombat and the experience had made him speak “Australian”.

Arthur Ross Cradock, 48, from the South Island town of Motueka, called police on February 11 and told them he was being raped at his home by the wombat and he needed help, The Nelson Mail newspaper reported.

The orchard worker later called back and said: “Apart from speaking Australian now, I’m pretty all right, you know.”

Cradock pleaded guilty in the local court to using a phone for a fictitious purpose. He was sentenced to 75 hours’ community work.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Stringer told the court alcohol played a large role in Cradock’s life.

Back in October, Gun Counter Gomer (”GCG”) aka “Confederate Yankee” took on the Evil Main Stream Media for supposedly sensationalizing false reports that Shiite Militias were taking over much of the city of Basra in the wake of the Brit’s Sir-Robin to a remote base at the airport, 13 miles from city centre. A little taste of his snit-fit:

Basra is not in chaos. In fact, crime and violence are way down and there has not been a British combat death in over a month.

Today, however, GCG has a new complaint — that the Evil Main Stream Media is portraying the Iraqi central government’s attack on Shiite Militias which took over much of the city of Basra in the wake of the British retreat redeployment in a negative light:

Because of the success of the surge and the increasing competence of Iraqi security forces, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki decided that it was time to lead an offensive in Basra, a city long controlled by competing Shia militias that are often little more than criminal gangs. Maliki has given the militias 72 hours to lay down their arms or face “the most severe penalties.”

This, according to GCG, is a “moment[] of growth for Iraq’s fledgling democracy worth celebrating” even if the clueless wonder was in denial about the prevalent influence of Shia militias in the first place.

Now for GCG’s current delusion: “The Prime Minister of Iraq is all but publicly daring Muqtada al-Sadr and his Iranian allies to engage Iraqi government forces to determine the future of Iraq.”

Because, like GCG, we all know that the Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al Maliki is a inalterably opposed to Iranian influence in Iraq:

Man Installing Satellite TV Shoots, Kills Wife

SEDALIA, Mo. — Officials are trying to determine whether to file charges against a man who fatally shot his wife while trying to install a satellite television system in their home.

Patsy D. Long, 34, of Deep Water, was pronounced dead early Saturday evening after being shot in the chest with a .22-caliber handgun.

Patsy Long was standing outside the residence while her husband was installing a satellite television system.

According to sheriff’s department spokesman Maj. Robert Hills, Ronald Long fired a shot from the inside of their home after several unsuccessful efforts to punch a hole through the exterior wall using other means. Investigators said Ronald Long believed his family was inside the house.

He told authorities that he fired a second shot, then called out his wife’s name and the names of their two children. When he got no reply, he ran outside and found his wounded wife.

I dunno … maybe it’s not funny.

Okay … it isn’t funny.

But, I guess fatal stupidity never is all that funny.