After years of beaing on the losing end of the propaganda war, the US has finally delivered a good PsyOp. The "Surge" has been much hyped, causing militias to flee Baghdad without a fight--which would no doubt have been messy, with many civilian casualties and much damage to Iraq's largest city.
Now here's the beauty part, by claiming al Sadr is in Iran (and for all anyone knows, he is), he comes across as a pawn of the hated Iranians. But Sadr doesn't dare come out of hiding for very long, for fear of being nabbed. So he has to choose between appearing to be a coward or appearing to be a traitor. Either one would lose him influence among his supporters.
Al Sadr has already had trouble with keeping his militias in line. It would be almost impossible for him to do while in hiding or on the run. So there is a potential for his militia to fragment.
All this before the battle has even begun in earnest. |