Al-Maliki says militias are "are worse than al-Qaida"

From the NY Times:

Mr. Maliki’s forces may also have lost ground in the battle for public opinion when, in a well-publicized event in Sadr City, 40 men who said they were Iraqi police officers surrendered their weapons to Sadr officials, who symbolically gave the officers olive branches and Korans. The weapons were returned after the officers pledged not to use them against Mahdi Army members.

Sadr told his fighters not to surrender their weapons as long as their country is occupied by the U.S.

Comments

[Not my President]

So the US and Iraqi government are officially fighting a bunch of the Iraqi people who don't want to be occupied. I always knew it would come down to this.