Update on Mooky

Mooky's stronghold falls in Basra.

"Iraqi soldiers swooped on the Mehdi Army’s stronghold in Basra. Iraqi officials said they now controlled the bastion, known as the Hayaniya district.

The dawn raid by government troops there was backed by a thunderous bombardment by U.S. warplanes and British artillery."

Iraqi Political Spring

"During his meeting with Rice, al-Maliki said the government assaults in the southern city of Basra represent a strong blow to all lawbreakers, showing the determination to confront the militias, according to a press release by the prime minister’s office.

President Jalal Talabani told Rice, “We are living in the Iraqi political spring.”

In the northern part of Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi troops have stepped up security operations in Mosul, believed to be one of the last urban strongholds of al-Qaida in Iraq."

The head of the Kurdish self-ruled region, Massoud Barzani, has offered Kurdish troops to help fight al-Sadr’s militia.

More significantly, Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi signed off on a statement by Talabani, a Kurd, and the Shiite vice president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, expressing support for the crackdown in the oil-rich city of Basra.

Al-Hashemi is one of al-Maliki’s most bitter critics and the two have been locked in an acrimonious public quarrel for a year. Al-Hashemi has accused the prime minister of sectarian favoritism and al-Maliki has complained that the Sunni vice president is blocking key legislation.