Major Update: I note in the post below from this morning how Iraqis have decided to side with Prime Minister Maliki and authorize the government to dismantle radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s militias. I proposed one reason this was happening was due to the heavy hand of Iran and its role in giving Sadr support and sanctuary to control his thugs in Iraq from the safety of Iran. Now more news is coming out about how the fighting in Basra could be seen as an invasion of Iraq by Iranians, under the cover of the Sadr Militia:

IRANIAN forces were involved in the recent battle for Basra, General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, is expected to tell Congress this week.

Military and intelligence sources believe Iranians were operating at a tactical command level with the Shi’ite militias fighting Iraqi security forces; some were directing operations on the ground, they think.

I am pretty sure if this claim does come out they will have Iranians in custody to show to the media. The administration will have a tight case against Iran if actions is required. And if Iran is invading Iraq and guiding efforts to kill Iraqis and our soldiers there in country, then action will be required. – end update

I noted in previous posts (here, here and here – thanks LJStrata for reminding me to put the links in!) that Moqtada al-Sadr actually was losing the fight for Iraq with his militia’s. I noted if the West is tired of dealing with the religious violence from afar that the Iraqis are likely to be completely fed up with living through it directly. And I noted the fact Iran is not an Arab culture but Persian, with centuries of strife between the two cultures which would spell the end of Sadr’s support in Iraq since he was hiding out and running his surrender operations from Iran. And it seems all of that speculation is turning out to be partially correct (which is as good as it gets in the fortune telling biz).

This weekend the various Iraqis leaders and political groups threw their support behind Prime Minister Maliki and are authorizing the dismantling of the militia’s:

Iraq’s political blocs backed a government crackdown on Shiite militias and a demand by the country’s political council for parties to disband their militias as a condition for participation in a key local election, an Iraqi lawmaker said Sunday.

In a meeting on Saturday evening, Iraq’s political council of national security gave its backing to a government offensive against Shiite militants in oil-rich southern Basra province and other areas, MP Fouad Masum said.

The council representing the country’s sectarian, ethnic and political groups is made up of the Kurdish president, his two Sunni and Shiite vice-presidents, a Shiite premier and leaders of major political blocs.

The council endorsed a statement supporting the crackdown in Basra and other provinces and urged all political parties to disband their militias as a condition for participation in the political process, Masum told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

‘All political parties and blocs are urged to immediately disband their militias and hand in their arms to the state and switch to peaceful civilian activities as a condition to participation in the political process and election,’ the council said in a statement.

Only the Sadrist bloc of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr objected to the council’s support for the government offensive and its call for disbanding militias, said Masum from the Kurdish Alliance bloc.

Sadr is isolated now. He has let his thugs do to him what al-Qaeda’s thugs did to Bin Laden – where al-Qaeda is now the enemy of Islam across Iraq. Thugs do not create followings, the create uprisings and backlash. And Sadr is now exposed as a thug in hiding in Iran (though Iran laughingly denies this).

What this also means is Sadr probably won’t get his million man march this week. Not with the violence going on in the last remaining strongholds of his militia:

The death toll in fighting between U.S. troops and Baghdad militants rose to 20 Sunday as police reported the abductions of 42 college students near Mosul.

At least 52 people were injured in the battles between U.S. troops and Shiite insurgents that broke out Saturday night in Baghdad’s Sadr City, CNN and the Kuwait News Agency KUNA reported.

Everyone is getting spent. People are too tired of the fighting for some vague future when the path they are on is looking better than anything the people of Iraq have seen for 3 decades. It is only that 1% of the population which must be genetically maniacal that continue to dream of jihad (Update: Geez, talk about your coincidences). Everyone else is losing interest – which is clearly what the Iraqi government signaled, and I am pretty positive their backers support the move.

And the other potentially huge loser in all of this is Iran. Iran has been waging war against the US and other western fighters with their training of terrorists and equipping them with the material to get through our defenses. There have been numerous legitimate reasons provided to send Iran a strong signal to butt out or pay the price. And now some in the UK see the stage being set for such a signal being sent:

A strong statement from General David Petraeus about Iran’s intervention in Iraq could set the stage for a US attack on Iranian military facilities, according to a Whitehall assessment. In closely watched testimony in Washington next week, Gen Petraeus will state that the Iranian threat has risen as Tehran has supplied and directed attacks by militia fighters against the Iraqi state and its US allies.

The outbreak of Iraq’s worst violence in 18 months last week with fighting in Basra and the daily bombardment of the Green Zone diplomatic enclave, demonstrated that although the Sunni Muslim insurgency is dramatically diminished, Shia forces remain in a strong position to destabilise the country.

“Petraeus is going to go very hard on Iran as the source of attacks on the American effort in Iraq,” a British official said. “Iran is waging a war in Iraq. The idea that America can’t fight a war on two fronts is wrong, there can be airstrikes and other moves,” he said.

This is not an ‘idea’ or some kind of maneuvering, it is a fact of life. And if we want peace in Iraq, safety for their forces and ours, so we can finally draw down our forces we are going to have to deal with Iran. And it might as well be now before anymore bloodshed happens in Iraq.

The Mahdi Militia think Iran is capable of standing up to our forces. This blind belief in their puppet masters needs to be destroyed so they start thinking about their survival and not killing others. The resolve of the rest of Iraq to line up against Sadr and the militia’s could even be seen as a signal from the Iraqis it is time to send Iran a message. Iran cannot stand up to our forces – they cannot stop our attacks. And the difference between Iran and Iraq is we are working to rebuild Iraq and bring them into the modern world. Iran better understand no such promise is coming for those who attack us. We invaded Iraq with the intention of having to spend the time and money to change its future. Iran is an enemy agent, we will just bomb them and leave them to pick up the pieces. There will be no occupation of Iran – just a busted up military and an very, very angry and anxious population facing beaten leaders.

And it is about time to end the madness that thinks the US will roll over when attacked, even if it is against one individual. People need to be aware that there are legal ways to challenge America and those which come with deadly high price.

Update: Much more here on what is happening in Iraq:

In Baghdad, US forces are pushing Shiite militias farther from the Green Zone in an attempt to put the area out of range for rockets and mortars that have recently pounded the diplomatic and government enclave.

The strategy — which targets the southern outskirts of the Shiite district of Sadr City — began as part of a wider crackdown on armed Shiite groups that left Iraqi leaders in disarray after strong resistance and protests from the powerful Mahdi Army militia.

But for American commanders, the showdowns offered an opportunity to move against the launch sites, known as “rocket boxes,” which soldiers previously had not reached through the teeming Sadr City streets.

US troops reinforced positions on the edges of Sadr City — an 8-square-mile slum with about 2.5 million people — and have battled their way into suspected launch sites.

“We’ve seized the ‘rocket boxes’ and pushed them north,” said Col. John Hort, commander of the Third Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

Still doesn’t look like victory for the Mahdi forces to me. Looks more like defeat. Which is probably why I don’t work for the SurrenderMedia, I just can’t see what they see, and I am sure they want to keep their ‘visions’ intact at all cost.

More here, here, here and here here.