What's less than a smidgen?

That would be the amount of confidence the Bush Administration actually has in Iraq's al-Malaki led government's ability to defend itself and to carry out their own actions against insurgents and/or popular cleric al-Sadr's Mahdi Army (also known as the opposition party). It seems like only yesterday that Bush was speaking of the remarkable progress being made in Iraq, and how it was such a positive development that Maliki's government was now willing to battle evildoers all by it's self! And the boots on the ground were saying, 'yup, we're sittin' out this one, might do some surveillance for them, maybe a little consulting...' At the same time that the President was making one of his ever optimistic speechs, US forces were running air strikes in Basra. The old joke is true - you can tell when Bush is lying by when he opens his mouth. The Washington Post has the Baghdad beat, with their foreign correspondents reporting that American troops have now taken the lead in fighting al-Sadr in the capital city. (Or initiated the fighting - I don't recall anything being reported on clashes in Baghdad as of yesterday). Sudarsan Raghavan and Sholnn Freeman report that Four U.S. Stryker armored vehicles were seen in Sadr City by a Washington Post correspondent, one of them engaging Mahdi Army militiamen with heavy fire. The din of American weapons, along with the Mahdi Army's AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, was heard through much of the day. U.S. helicopters and drones buzzed overhead. The clashes suggested that American forces were being drawn more deeply into a broad offensive that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, launched in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday, saying death squads, criminal gangs and rogue militias were the targets. The Mahdi Army of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite rival of Maliki, appeared to have taken the brunt of the attacks; fighting spread to many southern cities and parts of Baghdad. The Iraqi army and police force, meanwhile, are hanging out at the outskirts of town. And Prime Minister Maliki is showing the patience and diplomacy of a true leader. On Wednesday he ordered the Mahdi Army to surrender their weapons by Saturday or face grave consequences. Yesterday, he reiterated his threat, but offered up a cash bonus for every weapon redeemed. Today, he tacked another ten days on to his deadline. No word on whether the cash bonuses still apply, but I'm betting these guys won't settle for less than a flat panel TV.