Maliki vs Sadr

Anthony Cordesman, national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, offers his take on the violent power struggles now unfolding in Iraq:

Much of the current coverage of the fighting in the south assumes that Muqtada al-Sadr and the Sadr militia are the "spoilers," or bad guys, and that the government forces are the legitimate side and bringing order. This can be a dangerous oversimplification.