Maliki has apparently caved in to pressure from Shiite militias in calling for a freeze on nationwide crackdown on Moqtada Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army. The freeze order is both inexplicable and mystifying since it shows the waning authority of the government and Maliki himself - who ordered the assault and put his prestige on the line by supervising it in person. Instead of dealing with the militia which had taken the government forces to ransom by its show of defiance in Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City and the southern city of Basra and other crucial towns, the prime minister has given it a free reign to sow terror. Basra clashes proved a disaster for everyone except its intended losers. Tens of thousands of families were trapped in their homes for a week, their electricity, mobile phones and water cut off. The number of deaths is unknown, but is probably several hundred. The Basra clashes and the subsequent ceasefire have seen Maliki emerging with his authority severely weakened. His army and police took a battering and failed to capture any ground. On the contrary, Sadr, who ordered his militia off Basra streets after a week of terror, seems to be gaining an upper hand and that must have emboldened him to call an anti-US million-man march on April 10, the day when Baghdad fell to the US-led forces five years ago. The prime minister on Friday made a baffling U-turn in ordering the freeze just a day after pledging to widen the security crackdown. Before making the climbdown, Maliki has vowed to act tough against the rogue militia singling out those operating in the Shula and Sadr City districts, the strongholds of Al-Sadr. It seems the driving force behind Maliki's change of heart is Sadr's threatened million-man march which has the potential of aggravating the already precarious security situation in this war-wrecked country. Despite Iran's protestations that it does not have any role in the internal politics of Iraq, the comments by an influential Shiite leader, Mohsin Hakim, assumes interesting implications. Hakim has suggested that Iran used its clout over certain Iraqi groups to curb the violence. Though he did not name the groups, it is clear that he was referring to the Mahdi Army, whose leader Sadr is widely believed to be in Iran. __
