Iraq News (1 April)

The Good: Things have pretty much calmed down where fighting was the worst in Baghdad and Basra due to the Mahdi Army uprising. That's of course after a thorough shellacking taken by the militia thugs (the body count of enemy KIA from the Ministry of Interior is well into the triple digits). Sadr and Friends made a smart move to stash their weapons and conduct politics instead of violence. I just don't know how long that is going to last.

The Bad: LA Times takes a stab at dissecting some of the messy politics behind this whole fiasco. I thought the Quds Force commander in Iran orchestrating the Sadr ceasefire was a pretty interesting twist. I'm waiting for the dude in the clownsuit to show up and grant 24/7 electricity to Iraqi citizens with one toot of his clown horn. This region never ceases to amaze me.

The Ugly: Kudos to the Gulf News for stating the obvious, Iraqis don't like the Green Zone! They probably don't like that monstrosity of a new US embassy either, but who am I to judge.

Militia strongholds, not looking so good (here comes the US taxpayer-funded relief effort)