INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS

Watched with interest I am sure by families of 1AD Soldiers.

A radical Shiite cleric has pulled his militia out of police stations and government facilities in three cities they took control of last week, partially meeting a U.S. demand for ending the standoff in southern Iraq, the cleric's representative said Monday.

Police on Monday were back on the streets and in their stations in Najaf, Kufa and Karbala for the first time in days since the al-Mahdi Army militia of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rose up last week in bloody fighting against U.S.-led forces in much of the south, witnesses said.

Makes me wonder if the blunt, straight talk of LTG Sanchez might be a contributing factor when he says

"The mission of U.S. forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr. That is our mission,"

It would get my attention.