"David E. Powell" wrote in
ups.com:

They really should have gone after this guy about 2 years back when he
started the problems. Southern Iraq had been pretty quiet, and now this
right near the Iranian border. The General they have on CNN is right.
The Iraq gov't has made exuses for this guy and not gone after him. I
fthey're not willing to do something about an entire city on fire, it
will be a bad move on their part. This is going to be a big test for
the new gov't there.

There has been some discussion recently about whether al-Sadr
actually controls the Mehdi Army any more. There are apparently
factions within that organisation that are no longer taking his
orders. This complicates things slightly.
Having said that we may be in for round three with these clowns.
If thats the case then not capping al-Sadr would be a crime
against humanity.