The Second Front

Shortly before the election, we got media reports of the jaw-dropping order from Nouri al-Maliki that the United States remove the checkpoints it set up in and around Sadr City in an attempt to find the abducted American soldier and to capture a notorious Shiite militia leader.

We withdrew and the Iraqi government gave us a verdict on Saddam two days before our election (yes, I think its quite possible there was a link).

Now that the election is over, our military stepped up its demands that the Shiite militias be reined in (we've also been treated to the latest McCain-anity - a demand to go after al-Sadr without any specifics as to how to deal with all the baggage that accompanies such a move).

It appears today we may be seeing some blowback from the Shiites. CNN reports on the brazen, daylight raid of the Ministry of Education in which men in Iraqi police uniforms kidnapped between 100 to 150 men.

CNN Notes:

One witness, a Sunni Arab well known to a Reuters employee, said he saw the gunmen check identity cards, pick out Sunni employees, including a man "who was just delivering tea."

So what now? A second front against the Shiites?

Where will we get the troops for that one, McCain?